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THE SELF-MADE MAN 



TRANSLATED BY A. M. CHRISTIE 



THE SELF-MADE MAN 

/ 



EDITED, WITH A SKETCH OF HIS AFTER LIFE, 

BY MAX JAHN 



IN TWO VOLUMES— VOL. II. 







ylrtcAorajk ppct 







STRAHAN & CO., PUBLISHERS 
34 PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON 

187G 



Va 3 



PRINTED BY 
M'CORQUODALE AND CO., THE ARMOURY 
SOUTHAVARK . 



THE LIBRARY 
M COHGRBftS 



LC Control Number 



II 




tmp96 028896 



CONTENTS, 



CHAPTER XIV. 
1810, 1811. 



Pages 



The author makes the acquaintance of an influential friend 
— Receives work as an engraver from him — Removal to a 
new house — Death of Queen Louisa — Birth of a son — Studies 
in the history of literature — And in physical geography and 
astronomy — An attack of rheumatic fever — Death of the child 
— More copper-plate engraving — Bent of the author's mind 
towards science — Study of mineralogy — A geological ex- 
cursion — Forms a friendship with Schmidt, a student of 
geography — His ignorance of mathematics ... ... ... 1 — 15 



CHAPTER XV. 

1811. 

Introduction to Julius von Klaproth — He proposes that the author 
should engrave a map and share the profits with him — Result 
of the speculation — Engraves a map showing the inequalities 
of mountains — It is spoiled in printing — Enters the employ- 
ment of Schropp & Co., map-dealers — Present of appliances 
for drawing and study — Views through a telescope — Rapturous 
feelings on seeing Jupiter and his moons — Interesting conver- 
sation with Niebuhr — Globe-painting — Professor Plamann's 
Institute — His mode of teaching — Receives employment in 



vi CONTENTS. 



Pages 



the school — Account of the assistant-masters — Employment 
under Schropp & Co. becomes extensive and lucrative — A 
post map — Rectification of atlases — Pleasant friendships — An 
excursion to the Miiggel mountains — Sketching by moonlight 
— An astronomical lecture — Night ascent of the mountain — 
Failure to see the sun rise — The " German Society " — Its 
founders — Professor Krause and Dr. Jahn ... ... ... 16 — 40 



CHAPTER XVI. 

1812. 

Studies in g\)ogi*aphical discovery — Access obtained to the Royal 
Library — Introduction to Professor Riihs — Advantages of his 
friendship — It is suddenly broken off — The author executes 
map of the Atlantic and Northern Seas — Map of the mountain- 
ranges and waters of Europe — Map of Germany — Map of 
Russian Baltic Provinces — Studies in mineralogy and geo- 
gnosy — Additions to library — Collection of minerals — Birth of 
a daughter — Pleasant water-excursions with wife and child — 
Napoleon declares war against Russia — The author compiles 
a geographical catalogue — Brisk demand for maps, especially 
of Russia — Jahn lectures on German nationality — His out- 
spokenness — Retreat of the French army from Moscow — 
Reflections on the changed conditions of the author's life ... 41—55 



CHAPTER XVII. 

1813. 

An eventful year — The author studies military engineering, in 
view of having to serve — Appointed a teacher in the Plamann 
Institute — Excellent spirit which pervaded the institution — A 
troop of Cossacks appears before Berlin — Alarm in the city — 
Withdrawal of the French — Entrance of the Russians — Mar- 
riage of Kasimir with the author's sister — Gives up music- 
teaching — Aspect of the war unfavourable for the Germans 
— A friendly Russian soldier billeted on the author — He turns 
out a thief — Projected plan for the defence of Berlin — Mis- 
managed in execution — Organization of the Landsturm — The 
author made a subaltern — Deficient supply of geographical 
materials — The allies defeated at Bautzen — They retreat ... 56 73 



CONTENTS. vii 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

1813. 

Pages 

Appointed superintending engineer of the works for the defence of 
Berlin — Defective condition of the fortifications — Endeavours 
made to remedy this — Want of proper tools — Inefficiency of 
the burghers employed on the works and of their substitutes 
— Female substitutes sent — Consequent irregularities — A 
truce concluded — Partial stoppage of the defensive works — 
Recommencement of hostilities — Disquietude in Berlin — Dis- 
tant view of the fighting — Victories of the allies — Decisive 
defeat of the French at Leipsic— Effect on the country ... 74 — 90 

CHAPTER XIX. 

1813, 1814. 

The author continues his work of map-engraving — Mineral- 
collecting and geological studies — Attendance on Weiss's 
mineralogical lectures — Bad conduct of the author's brother- 
in-law, Kasimir — Attack in the Geographical Ephemerides on 
Jack's postal map-— The author replies, and defends his own 
share in the work — Intimacy with Dr. Zernial, one of the 
masters of the Plamann Institute — Visits with Zernial a 
friend of his, Superintendent Meyer, at Margrafpiesko — 
Meyer's enthusiasm for Fichte's philosophy — Description of 
the Meyer family — The author is introduced by them to Dr. 
Turte of the University of Berlin — Advised by Zernial, Meyer, 
and Turte to go through a regular course of university study 
— Accepts Turte's offer of free admission to his lectures — Dis- 
covers, with concern, that Ulrica Meyer has made a deep 
impression on his heart — Visit of Ulrica and Theresa Meyer 
to Berlin— Their unamiable behaviour— Illness of the author's 
wife — Attendance at Dr. Turte's physical and chemical 
classes — Another visit with Zernial to the Meyers — The 
author unable to decide which of the three daughters" had 
made most impression on him — His wife becomes gloomy 
and sullen — His feelings towards the Meyers gradually lose 
their first warmth — Peace concluded— Increase of employ- 
ment, in consequence, at map- work — Friendship with Franz, 
a copper-plate engraver — Birth of a son — The author stands 
second in the examination for matriculation — Matriculates 
for the faculty of philosophy — Reflections en the roundabout 
way in which he has reached his goal 91 — 114 



Vlll 



CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER XX. 

1814, 1815. 



Pages 



The author a university student at last — Attends a convivial 
meeting of the students — A repulsive scene — Proposal that 
he should study theology — Great amount of work got through 
by orderly distribution of time — Draws map of European 
canal communications — Complimented by Russian officers ou 
the accuracy of his maps of Russia — Again visits with 
Zernial his friends the Meyers — They lose their way in the 
forests — Zeridal succumbs from fatigue, and refuses to go 
further — The way found — Visits his brother-in-law at Bukow ' 
along with his wife and family — Sketches the country — 
Singular optical phenomena after sunset — Napoleon's escape 
from Elba — Battle of Waterloo — Excursion with Plamann and 
the masters and pupils of the Institute — Efforts of the Govern- 
ment to diffuse the Pestalozzian system of education — Clergy- 
men and teachers invited to study it at the Plamann Institute 
— The author's misgivings as to the utility of this scheme — 
His report thereon receives the approval of the Ministry — 
Makes the acquaintance of Wolf, the great classicist — Enters 
himself as a theological student under Schleiermacher — Again 
visits the Meyers with Zernial — Ulrica Meyer's intended 
marriage — The author's unfavourable opinion of the bride- 
groom 115 — 141 



CHAPTER XXL 

1815, 181P. 

The author makes arrangements for attending theological lectures — 
He reviews his religious opinions — Public events — Birth of a 
daughter — Another visit with Zernial to the Meyers — Preaches 
for Meyer — Death of his sister, Kasimir's wife — Draws map 
for the third part of Niebuhr's History of Rome — Trip with 
Plamann and the masters and pupils of the Institute — Visit to 
his brother-in-law, August Heyl — His school-house haunted 
— Futile attempt to interview the ghost — Another excursion 
with Plamann and the Institute — Continues to work at map 
of the Greek colonies — Wolf's mode of proceeding makes the 
work arduous — His delight at the discovery of new names — 
Instructive and interesting conversations with him — His 
theory of the authorship of the Homeric poems — Against the 



CONTENTS. 



Pages 



use of grammars in the study of languages — His ideas as to 
teaching — Prejudice against theology and theologians — His 
hatred of the Berlin savants — High opinion -of the Dutch 
savants — The Greek map finished — Wolf gets the loan of it — 
His illnesses and death — Final loss of the map — The author 
undertakes a map of the Holy Land — Enthusiasm for the work 
— It meets with the approval of Karl Ritter — The author's 
dissatisfaction with the received treatment of the science 
of morphology — Description of a proposed new system — 
Changed conditions of Schropp and Co.'s business .. .. 142 — 173 



CHAPTER XXIL 

1817 

The author again visits the Meyers — Commissioned by the 
Government to execute postal map of Prussia and map of 
Brazil — Yisit to Von Turk, Councillor of Education at Pots- 
dam — He offers the author the appointment of Director of the 
Seminary for Schoolmasters at Potsdam — Advantages of the 
post — The -offer accepted — Notice given to Plamann — His 
angry reception of it — Accuses the author of ingratitude and 
treachery — Answer to these charges — Reflections on the 
future of Plamann's Institute, and of the Pestalozzian system 
— Plamann's good qualities — His services to the cause of 
education — Final nomination of the author by the Royal 
Ministry to the new office — Honourable certificates from the 
university — Rejoices over his promotion for the sake of his 
good wife — Removal to Potsdam — Close of an important 
period of his life 174—193 



CHAPTER XXIIL 

1817, 1818. 

The author arrives at Potsdam, and enters on his new duties — 
The other masters described — Co-operation of Von Turk — 
Commission to draw map of the Rhine province — Joins a 
musical society in Potsdam— Attendance of the pupils of the 
seminary at its meetings — Objections thereto by narrow- 
minded people — Close acquaintanceship formed with Wessely, 
the director — Sketch of his life and character — Inefficient 
mode of transacting business at the council — Private musical 



CONTENTS. 



Pages 



society formed — Lessons in mathematics to two of the masters 
— First public examination of the seminary — School inspec- 
tion tour in company with Von Turk — The Burgher- school in 
Potsdam attached to the seminary for the practical use of the 
pupils — Gratuity to the author from the Government in 
acknowledgment of his services ... ... ... ... 194 — 210 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

1819. 

Von Turk not a man of business — Embarrassments caused thereby 
— His early history — His good intentions often marred by his 
indecision — The author makes a new Chinese puzzle — Musical 
performances — A collection of natural objects acquired for 
the seminary — Different ideas concerning the training of 
schoolmasters — Hall added to the seminary for musical meet- 
ings — Celebration • at its opening — A cantata composed by 
the author performed — He makes the acquaintance of the Court 
apothecary, Franke — Courses of lectures to the schoolmasters 
in the neighbourhood of Potsdam — Illustrations of their 
non-success ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 211 — 229 



CHAPTER XXV. 

1820, 1821. 

Pleasant evenings at Potsdam — A welcome gratuity from Govern- 
ment — Excursion with Wessely and others to Schwedt — 
Admitted a member of the Mark Agricultural Society — Ex- 
pedition to the Hartz mountains with Franke and Rector 

M— The character of these two men contrasted — On 

the Bracken — Sunday-school for artisans opened in the semi- 
nary—Its want of success— Meteorological observations — The 
author commissioned by the Government to draw up a plan 
for a Gewerbe institute at Berlin— Becomes a Freemason — 
Assists in the establishment of a mineral well at Potsdam — 
Its failure— Excursion to Dessau and Worlitz— Description 
,of the pleasure-grounds — Von Tjirk's Civil Orphan Asylum — 
Multiplicity of the author's engagements— Finds it impos- 
sible to keep within his income— Receives an advance payment 
,and another gr^bui^y iv&m Government ... ... ... 230 — 24G 



CONTENTS. xi 



CHAPTER XXVI. 
1821, 1822. 



Pages 



Opening of the school for artisans and of Von Turk's Orphan 
Asylum — A friendship formed by the author with Rothe, 
Franke's foreman — They perform chemical experiments to- 
gether — Accident caused by a hitherto unknown property of 
pyrophorus — Offer of the directorship of the Burgher-school 
at Magdeburg — Decides to remain in Potsdam on account of 
its vicinity to Berlin — Value of the intellectual advantages 
of that city — Pleasant journeys to and from it — Expedition 
in company with Franke to Saxony and Bohemia — Visit to an 
old Berlin friend, Dr. Krause, in Dresden— Musical perform- 
ances of his daughter — A new style of pianoforte — Journey 
continued through Saxon Switzerland — Prague — Return to 
Dresden by water, in company with a Berlin family — Obliged 
by the rain to land at a village called Rongstock — A merry 
host and hilarious guests — Return to Potsdam — Application 
for an increase of salary ... ... ... ... ... ... 217 — 259 



CHAPTER XXVH. 

1823. 

The author prepares for publication a work on the formation of 
the earth — Receives another gratuity from the Royal Council 
— His conduct of the seminary approved by his superiors — 
Success of the students — Happy family relations — " To God 
be the glory " — A dark storm-cloud in the horizon — Progress 
of the " Old German " party — Secret associations — The author 
opposed to youths interfering in politics — A central board for 
examining into demagogical intrigues — Commissioners ap- 
pointed at the universities to watch over unauthorized 
societies — The " Old German " costume forbidden to all officials 
and schoolmasters — Herr Beckedorf appointed to reform the 
state seminaries — He goes the round of them — His character 
and manners — Visits Potsdam — The author is informed of a 
proposal to establish a Gewerbe-sohool in Berlin, and is sounded 
as to his willingness to accept the charge of it — Publication 
of his book — Receives a formal offer of the directorship of the 
new school — Expresses his willingness on certain conditions 
— His conditions accepted — A letter from the Ministry re- 
quiring changes in the seminary — Remarks on the proposed 
new arrangements — He sees that the period of his usefulness 



xii CONTENTS. 



Pages 
at the seminary is over — Formal appointment as director of 
the Gewerbe-Bchool 260—285 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 

1823, 1824. 

Effect on the author's friends of the news of his removal to Berlin 
— His successor named — Herr Siivern's disappointment at the 
•author's acceptance of the new office — He receives from the 
King the art and science gold medal for his work on the 
formation of the earth — Discussions as to the site of the 
(Gewerbe- school — Offence given by the author's memorandum 
«,s to 'the future arrangements of the school — Von Baren- 
fiprung meditates founding another institution of a similar 
nature — He proposes to use the Kollnisch school for this 
purpose — The -author accepts the directorship of it — Purchases 
an annuity for his wife — Undertakes the arrangement of a 
natural history collection for Potsdam grammar-school — His 
-services thankfully recognized by the Royal Consistory — A 
Masonic jubilee — Farewell entertainments and visits at Pots- 
dam — Removal to Berlin — Reflections on the close of another 
life-epoch ,-. 286—299 

CHAPTER XXIX. 

1824. 

Professor Schmidt's disappointment at the author's being placed 
over him — The author proposes that he and Schmidt should 
be co-directors '©f the schools — The arrangement is settled 
satisfactorily — Enormous amount of work — Engages a semi- 
narist as tutor for his children — Detailed description of Herr 
von Barensprung — His personal appearance — Deep knowledge 
of human nature — Artfulness — Iron will — More feared than 
loved by his subordinates — No reverence for art — The scanty 
development of the emotional side of his nature shown in his 
views on religion — His partial knowledge of scientific subjects 
— Entire want of philosophic culture — The (reverie-school 
placed under the control of a curatorium — The plan cumber- 
some and detrimental — Von Barensprung's artful management 
of the conferences of the curatorium — His code for the 
Gewerbe-school not ratified by the Ministry — Conclusion of 
Kloden's autobiography ... ... ... ... 300 — 315 

APPENDIX (1824— 1856) 317—383 



CHAPTER XIV. 

[The author makes the acquaintance of an influential friend — Receives 
work as an engraver from him — Removal to a new house — Death of Queen 
Louisa — Birth of a son — Studies in the history of literature — And in 
physical geography and astronomy — An attack of rheumatic fever — 
Death of the child — More copper-plate engraving — Bent of the author's 
mind towards science — Study of mineralogy — A geological excursion — 
Forms a friendship with Schmidt, a student of geography — His ignorance 
of mathematics.] 

A T the beginning of the year 1810, I became ac- 
-*--*- quainted with a man, then far advanced in life, 
though of unimpaired faculties, who had in earlier 
years acquired a wide reputation. Christian von 
Mecheln, formerly a patrician of Basle, where he had 
been proprietor of a large art-institute and business 
which had gained him great fame and an extensive 
acquaintance, was at the time I am writing of living 
in Berlin. He used to employ young artists in engrav- 
ing pictures, which he afterwards sold, and in this 
way he not only helped on numbers of artists but 
also enriched his own purse. In former times Mecheln 
had passed for a rich man and for one of the first 
connoisseurs of art. In his youth he had been at 
Rome and had associated with Winckelmann, whose 

VOL. II. B 






2 THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

friendship he pretended to have won. A considerable 
number of copper-plate engravings bear his name as 
the engraver; though whether he really engraved 
them all has become very doubtful to me. He was a 
member of the Art Academies of Florence, Vienna, 
and Berlin, and his fame as an art connoisseur led 
the Empress to send for him to Vienna, where he 
was entrusted with the task of preparing a catalogue 
of the Imperial picture-gallery and of naming and 
arranging the pictures. Later on, his business failed, 
and he was obliged to give it up entirely. Having 
saved little or nothing from the wreck of his fortune, 
he had come to Berlin, where, by means of high 
patronage and under the title of one of the Queen's 
librarians, he obtained from the Court a small pen- 
sion, which secured him against want. A lodging was 
also granted him, free of expense, in what afterwards 
became the university building, but was at that time 
still called Prince Henry's Palace. I no longer re- 
member exactly by whom Mecheln's attention was 
first directed towards me ; suffice it to say that he 
expressed a wish to know me, and that I went to see 
him. He received me in a way which was at once 
fatherly, patronizing, and friendly. He had a fine 
head, full of character ; his manners were those of a 
man of rank, fully conscious of his own importance, 
and his language was choice and cultivated, but 
decidedly Swiss. He was much given to narrative, 



A PATRON. 3 

though of a somewhat confused kind, as he delighted 
in jumping suddenly from one subject to another. 
He had just had an engraving made by the famous 
engraver, Professor Henne, of a picture of Hess', re- 
presenting the visit of the latter and of Lavater to 
Spalding, in an arbour, and he commissioned me 
to execute a long inscription to be put under this 
print. He intended afterwards to sell it ; and he 
bargained with me very closely over the price of my 
work ; for, as I was not long in finding out, he would 
turn a groschen round ten times before parting with 
it. I undertook the job, however, and executed it to 
his satisfaction. He paid me the sum agreed upon, 
and consoled me for its smallness by the promise of 
future employment • at the same time making me a 
present of a copper-plate engraving of himself, and 
offering to lend me any books I liked from his library, 
which, though small, was, he said, select. He invited 
me to go and see him frequently, which I did, for the 
man interested me. He had seen a great deal of the 
world and had much to tell, though, as I have said, 
he was so fond of going quickly from one thing to 
another, and touched so shortly on each separate 
subject, that his conversation was less instructive 
than it might otherwise have been, and one got 
very little solid information from him either about 
persons or things. 

On the 1st of April, the aeronaut Robertson made 

b 2 



4 THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

a balloon ascent, which I and my wife witnessed. As 
soon as the spring came and the weather was favour- 
able, we recommenced our Sunday water excursions 
to Stralau and Treptow. Sometimes too in the even- 
ing we used to row about for a few hours. In the 
day-time I engraved, did gold-work, and gave lessons 
in the guitar : I had from ten to twelve pupils of both 
sexes. I engraved for Herr von Mecheln the inscrip- 
tion under the portrait of Gotz von Berlichingen, and 
also lithographed for his edition of Lucas Cranach's 
album, which he published at this time, the fac-simile 
of Luther and Melancthon's handwritings. It was 
the first time that I had attempted anything in this 
line, but I was very successful. Herr von Mecheln saw 
that I would be of use to him. I also engraved for 
Spener the inscription under the portrait of Admiral 
von Krusenstern. 

On Midsummer-clay I removed from the Griin- 
strasse to the Spittelmarkt, where we took a room 
three stories high. From our window here we had 
a good and extensive prospect. Would that our 
prospects in life had been equally good ! Immediately 
after our move the whole country was thrown into 
consternation and mourning by the sudden and un- 
expected death of the universally beloved Queen 
Louisa. Her burial took place on the 27th of July. 
My wife and I watched the solemn funeral procession 
from Herr von Mecheln's house, whence we had a 



THE FIRST-BORN SON 5 

good view of the whole proceedings. It was a heart- 
rending sight, and not a single eye remained dry. 

At this time I took to making geographical notes 
from the newspapers, especially with regard to boun- 
daries, which were then constantly changing. These 
are now of no value. 

On the 24th of August, the clay of the Stralauer 
Fisclizug, my wife gave birth to my first-born son,. 
He was christened Karl August — the first name after 
me, the second after my brother-in-law. My wife got 
over her confinement safely and well. Our child 
was a source of great happiness to us, especially 
when it first began to smile Avhen we played with 
it. There is indeed a whole heaven of felicity in 
the smile of a young baby. 

In the autumn Herr von Mecheln asked me if I 
had any wish to see the library of the late Queen 
Louisa, which he said he could show me. This sight 
had a double interest for me, and I was delighted to 
go with him. He conducted me to the King's palace, 
and then into a spacious room with high shelves full 
of books all round the walls. In the middle of the 
room stood a large table, on which a quantity of 
volumes lay scattered about, and several more were 
lying on the ground. It was evident that the room 
had not been put in order for a long time. The 
books consisted in great measure of dedication copies, 
in beautiful bindings, chiefly morocco. There were 



6 THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

a great many novels, and numbers of treatises on 
the education of women, but scarcely any valuable 
books ; there was also a large collection of devotional, 
historical, and popular instructive books, many of 
which had evidently got there by mistake. What 
interested me most was an old, much-worn school- 
book (I forget its title), out of which Queen Louisa 
and her sister, afterwards Queen of Hanover, learnt 
to read. After I had looked about me for some time, 
Herr von Mecheln put to me the question, whether 
I should like to arrange the library and make a 
catalogue of it. It was very necessary, he said, that 
this should be done, and indeed it ought to have 
been done some time ago, but he had not been able 
to find time for the job. He said he could not 
promise to pay me anything for my work, but he 
knew how great a veneration I had for the late 
Queen, and he thought it would be a pleasure to me 
to become acquainted with the books which had 
formerly been hers, and that I should thus have 
the opportunity of studying many fine works, for 
that I could take my time over the task, so long as 
it was finished by the winter. I explained to him, 
however, that I had not so much spare time on my 
hands as he seemed to think. He was a crafty 
patron, and I could see well that he would not 
scruple to abuse my good-nature if he had the 
chance. It was very plain that he had received an 



A CUNNING FELLOW. 7 

order to make the catalogue ; but that he was in- 
capable of doing it I felt convinced. He was alto- 
gether wanting in the requisite knowledge, and I 
could scarcely believe that he had compiled the 
catalogue of the Vienna Picture Gallery himself. 
Even his proficiency as a judge of art had become 
a matter of doubt with me, and that on very 
good grounds; for, cunning old fellow as he was, 
he was not cunning enough to be able to hide his 
ignorance. My refusal to take this job off his hands 
did not, however, disturb our friendly relations. On 
the 15th October, the University of Berlin was opened 
in the building in which Mecheln had hitherto lodged, 
and he was consequently obliged to turn out of his 
rooms. 

I was at that time carrying on a diligent study of 
literature and its history, and also endeavouring to 
acquire as comprehensive an amount of book-learning 
as possible — especially with regard to physical geo- 
graphy and astronomy, which, interested me more 
than any other subjects. I already possessed a small 
library and the most essential maps. Friedrich 
Schultz's work on the connection of the heights of 
Europe (Ueber den Zusammenhang der Hohen in 
Eurojpa). in which an entirely new theory was 
expounded with much penetration and erudition, 
had then lately appeared, and was considered a 
valuable contribution to science. I had a great 



8 THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

curiosity to become acquainted with this book, and 
Herr von Mecheln procured it for me from a book- 
shop, for which I was very grateful to him. As I could 
not afford to buy it, I copied it out, and studied 
it so assiduously that I almost knew it by heart. 
With regard to water-sheds, this work will always 
continue to be a valuable one, though it is a book 
which has been much and variously misunderstood. 

In January, 1811, my uncle the glass-dealer in- 
vited me to accompany him to a musical rehearsal 
at the Urania theatre, and to help in the performance 
of an oratorio which Haussmann was going to give. 
I had already often assisted on such occasions, and I 
went with him. On my way back, I was seized with 
a kind of lameness in my right knee, which caused 
me to come limping home. My knee became very 
painful, and I ordered my usual remedy in such 
cases — viz., elder-tea — and went to bed. Never in 
my life have I perspired so violently as I did that 
night, Nevertheless in the morning the pain was 
worse, and had communicated itself to the left knee 
also. I now sent for a doctor. He prescribed 
remedies, but the pain went on increasing, and had 
soon spread to my shoulder and my thumb. It was 
an attack of rheumatic fever, but it could scarcely 
have been brought on by catching cold only ; it had 
probably more to do with the quantity of quick- 
silver vapours which I had inhaled formerly while 



HE A VY S UFFERING. 9 

employed in gilding. The pain was often so violent 
as to cause delirium. I now found myself in a 
most unfortunate position. When I was taken 
ill, the contents of my purse did not exceed one 
thaler seven groschen. I was now unable to earn 
anything, and yet I was in greater need of money 
than ever. Soon after I was laid up, my little boy 
fell ill also, and then there were two of us to be 
waited on. We had no servant-girl, not even a char- 
woman; my poor wife, almost dead with anxiety, 
was obliged to nurse us both, day and night. My 
good sister gave us her small savings, and she, as well 
as Kasimir and Schuler, sat up with me at night 
during the worst of my illness. For five whole weeks 
I was confined to my bed, and the first time I went 
out it was to follow my dear little one to the grave. 
He had died of tooth fever on his mother's lap. 
This was indeed a time of heavy suffering. My good 
wife bore it all with heroic fortitude, though her 
heart was well-nigh broken. To me it often seemed 
as though the heavens would fall on me and crush 
me. But it was God's ordinance, and we bowed un- 
murmuringly beneath His holy will. 

Kasimir wrote me soon after a letter of consola- 
tion, with renewed assurances of his sincere friend- 
ship. For six weeks I had earned nothing, when the 
engraver, Henne, brought me a copper-plate, on which 
was a representation of the death of Queen Louisa — 



io THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

her couch surrounded by all the great personages of 
our royal family — and gave me the order to engrave 
the long inscription which was to be placed under 
\h^ picture. As soon as this was finished, he gave 
me an inscription to do for an engraving of the 
village of Dahlwitz, which was to be raffled for, and 
then two shorter ones, for two plates in Lichten- 
stein's Travels. Herr von Mecheln also gave me a 
job of the same kind for a portrait of Madame 
Hendel-Schiitz. And lastly, the picture-dealer Leh- 
mann had brought out a set of comic pictorial 
new year's greetings, the words of which I en- 
graved. 

In the meantime, whenever I was not employed 
in engraving, I used to devote myself diligently to 
the study of geography, and I had succeeded in com- 
piling a list of the most important works. on physical 
geography and mountains. Friedrich Schultz hap- 
pened to see this list one day when he was paying 
me a visit, and asked me to make him a copy of it. 
I had a talk with him concerning the assertion made 
by Alexander von Humboldt, that the Cassiquiare 
was in immediate connection with the Rio Negro — 
an assertion which was opposed to Friedrich Schultz s 
theory. Schultz maintained that Humboldt must 
have erred in his observations; that such a con- 
nection between the two rivers was impossible; 
and that he was prepared to take the highest wager 



STUDY OF MINER A LOGY. 1 1 

with Humboldt, that if another careful investigation 
were made, his own view of the matter would be 
confirmed. A public investigation was afterwards 
made, and Humboldt was proved to be in the right. 
Schultz's arguments against the theory of the bifur- 
cation of rivers had never from the first seemed to 
me convincing ; for every river delta, or, to speak 
accurately, every river island, proves that such bifur- 
cation is possible. He would not, however, allow 
that this objection had any weight, and said that I 
was thinking of rivers that run through plains, and 
that of these he had not spoken. 

I had by chance got possession of Georgi's well- 
known work on Russia, and also Reimann's map of 
Russia in four sheets. With the help of the principles 
set forth in the above-mentioned work of F. Schultz, 
and also of Georgi's work, I was able to insert the 
mountain and hill ranges in my copy of Reimann's 
map, and I thus acquired a thorough knowledge of 
the hydrography and orography of Russia. But the 
study of mountains from books soon forced upon me 
the necessity of acquiring some geognostic know- 
ledge, which was not possible without a previous 
knowledge of mineralogy : to this subject, therefore, 
my attention was now principally directed. I was 
not unmindful of the difficulties I should have to 
encounter, but difficulties have never been able to 
frighten me away from learning. Nor had I any 



12 THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

idea of what use all this knowledge would be to me, 
for I had no plan of life ; how, indeed, would it have 
been possible for me to have made one? Looking 
now at the results, I might certainly with ease repre- 
sent my life as a carefully thought-out scheme, and 
by so doing I should perhaps gain in the estimation 
of some people ; but I should be committing an 
offence against truth. I was impelled, as by a kind of 
instinct, towards science ; and I could not have acted 
otherwise even had I willed. As the swallow in the 
autumn sets its face southwards, and flies unhaltingly 
over land and sea, with no other object but to make 
for the south, so it was with me : but my goal was 
science, and in this direction my steps were drawn, as 
if by magnetic attraction, without my being conscious 
of where I should, or even where I wished to, arrive. 
Mine was a career which savoured undoubtedly of 
eccentricity ; and, though the nature of my achieve- 
ments was wholly different from theirs, my course 
may not unaptly be compared to those of the knight- 
errants of old, who went through the world with no 
other aim than to accomplish deeds of valour. The 
maxim in Campe's " Swiss Family Robinson " — " to 
learn anything and everything that comes in one's 
way" — was my guide, and left me neither rest nor 
peace ; nor will it as long as I live. 

Karsten's Mineralogical Tables had appeared at that 
time, and were pronounced admirable. I would 



THE FIRST GEOLOGIC EXCURSION. 13 

gladly have bought them, but they were too dear. 
Herr von Mecheln, however, borrowed them for me 
from a book-shop, and I copied them out. I was 
thus able to master all that was mere matter of 
memory ; but I had still no means of obtaining vivid 
ideas on the subject, and I longed eagerly for Reuss' 
Text-book of Mineralogy, which was recommended by 
Karsten. 

In order to obtain a sight of rocks, of which I had 
now read so much but seen nothing, I went one 
afternoon to Tasdorf. I arrived there just as it was 
getting dark, and turned into the mill to spend the 
night. Before sunrise I woke up, and set off to 
Riidersdorf, where I examined the lime strata with 
deep interest. No one has ever trod classic ground 
with more rapturous emotions than I experienced 
amongst these rocks, and the first bit of lime-spar 
which I found in its bed, the first petrified snail 
which I dug out, filled me with thrilling sensations, 
which I am utterly unable to describe. I spent the 
whole forenoon rambling about on the mountains. 
It seemed to me as if I was once again amongst my 
native surroundings ; as if I had seen all this, and 
much more, in times long gone by ; as if old recol- 
lections were being awakened. Delighted with what 
I had seen, and my head full of mineralogic and 
geognostic ideas, I at length retraced my steps to 
Berlin. 



14 THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

One day, when I was telling Bolt how I had filled 
in the mountain chains on my map of Russia, he 
said he thought I should be interested in making the 
acquaintance of a man of the name of Schmidt, one 
of the masters at the Plamann Educational Insti- 
tute, who had occupied himself a great deal with 
geography, and had a nice collection of maps, and 
that Schmidt on his part would probably like to 
know me. I did not wait to be told this a second 
time, but went straight to his house, and found him 
at home. He was a kindly man, stout and of middle 
height, and he received me in a very cordial manner. 
He had lately been employed in drawing the moun- 
tain and hill-chains in Reimann's great Atlas of 
Europe, in sixteen maps, according to Schultz's 
views, and the maps had just come out of the en- 
graver's hands. This circumstance supplied a topic 
of conversation. He had got the river and mountain 
system of Europe at his fingers' ends, and thought at 
first to impose upon me with this knowledge ; but it 
soon turned out that with regard to the geography 
of Russia I was much better informed than he, and 
it was now his turn to wonder. He praised my 
learning, and said it had never happened to him 
before to meet with any who knew something which 
he did not. He then informed me that he was 
anxious to draw a great globe for the Plamann 
Institute, but that he could not manage the degrees 



AN AD VANTA GEOUS FRIENDSHIP. 1 5 

of latitude and longitude, and asked me if I under- 
stood how to draw them. I tried to make it clear to 
him, but could not succeed, and he then asked me to 
write down my explanation, which I promised to do. 
I had then no book which I could refer to on the 
subject, and I was obliged to work the matter out 
unaided. I did it trigonoinetrically, writing down 
the whole process of formulae and calculations from 
which I deduced my method. When, however, I 
showed the result to Schmidt, it turned out that he 
was not at all up in trigonometry and algebra, and I 
was obliged therefore to give him purely mechanical 
directions, with which he was quite content. I was 
very glad to have made his acquaintance, though I 
had no idea at the time how advantageous his friend- 
ship would be to me. 



CHAPTER XY. 

[Introduction to Julius von Klaproth — He proposes that the author should 
engrave a map and share the profits with him — Result of the speculation 
— Engraves a map showing the inequalities of mountains — It is spoiled 
in printing — Enters the employment of Schropp & Co., map-dealers — 
Present of appliances for drawing and study — Yiews through a telescope — 
Rapturous feelings on seeing Jupiter and his moons — Interesting conver- 
sation with Niebuhr — Globe-painting — Professor Plamann's Institute — 
His mode of teaching — Receives employment in the school — Account of 
the assistant-masters — Employment under Schropp & Co. becomes 
extensive and lucrative — A post map — Rectification of atlases — Pleasant 
friendships — An excursion to the Muggel mountains — Sketching by 
moonlight — An astronomical lecture — Night ascent of the mountain — 
Failure to see the sun rise — The " German Society " — Its founders — 
Professor Krause and Dr. Jahn.] 

T WAS sent for one day by a gentleman who I 
-*- was told wished to speak to me. I went 
accordingly to see him. It was Julius von Klaproth, 
the afterwards famous linguist, son of the dis- 
tinguished chemist of that name, who had just 
returned from Russia, where he had till then been 
living. He began a most interesting conversation 
with me on the subject of his travels in Russia and 
the Caucasus, and told me that he had in his posses- 
sion a copy of a map of Asia, in four sheets, drawn 
from Russian materials, and according to the latest 
discoveries, which was much more accurate than any 



A JOINT UNDERTAKING. ly 

of the maps that had hitherto appeared, and which 
contained much that had till then been quite unknown, 
especially with regard to the highlands of Asia ; as, 
for instance, four lakes of importance in Central Asia, 
the existence of which was completely ignored by all 
current maps. He then produced four large sheets of 
straw-paper, on which the said map was traced with- 
out any names, and asked me if I felt inclined to 
help him in preparing it for publication. He said he 
would put in the names in the Russian possessions, 
as far as Thibet and Turan, himself, and the rest he 
would leave to me, for the materials which he 
possessed afforded no new information with regard 
to the East Indies, Russia, &c. I was to engrave the 
map, and share the profits of the sale, and he would 
write a short notice to be published with it, I pro- 
mised to consider his proposal, and took one of the 
sheets away with me for further inspection. 

Hitherto I had only known Klaproth by name. I 
made inquiries concerning him, the result of which 
showed me that I had better be careful in dealing 
with him; that he was not to be depended on, 
although full of talent and rich in knowledge. I paid 
him a second visit, in order to arrange the conditions 
of our bargain more closely, and found him in the 
company of a lady, who was seated at the window 
with a parrot, and whom he introduced to me as his 
wife, remarking at the same time that she did not 

VOL. II. c 



1 8 THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

speak German. I broached the subject of " conditions," 
and he said that gain did not enter into his considera- 
tions, all he cared for was that the map should be 
published, but that if I could make anything by the 
transaction he should be very glad. But he wished 
his name to appear as publisher. It seemed to me 
that the speculation would be profitable both to 
science and to myself, and I agreed to join in the 
undertaking. We then had some further conversation 
on geographical matters. He fetched several large 
maps, which he spread out on the ground, and then 
stretched himself upon them, inviting me to do the 
same, as he said he had much to show me ; and so we 
lay, side by side, full length on the floor. In the mean- 
while, his wife had let the parrot escape from its cage, 
and was careering round the room after it ; and there 
was such a fearful screaming-match going on between 
the two, that Klaproth and I could not hear a word 
we said to each other; at last he called out something 
to her in Russian, whereupon she left the room. The 
history of my cartographic enterprise may be related 
in a few words. I completed the engraving of the 
first plate ; the rivers and lakes were all marked, and 
I had a proof sheet printed. This had taken from 
eight to nine weeks. At the end of this time, Klaproth 
sent to ask me to let him have back his drawings for 
a little while. He had as yet seen nothing of my 
engraving. On my going to him a few weeks later, 



A NEW IDEA. 



19 



to fetch back the maps, I was informed that he and 
his wife had gone off to Paris, and were not expected 
to return. Thus all my work had been in vain. I 
saw plainly that I was not cut out for a money-maker, 
and had no chance of succeeding in speculations of 
the kind. Some time after, in the year 1813. I 
received a visit from General d'Auvray, Director of 
the Russian Quartermaster- General's Staff, who told 
me that this map had been designed by him, and 
that Klaproth had got possession of the traced copy 
without his permission. Whether there was any 
truth in this statement I had no means of discovering. 
While I was still occupied with this work, Professor 
Zeune published his " Gaea," and I chanced to meet 
him at some house or other, I no longer remember 
where. Now I had just hit upon a new idea for 
representing graphically the inequalities of a chain of 
mountains — viz., by showing on one sheet of paper, 
marked out in squares, the area occupied by the 
mountain, and on another, similarly marked out, longi- 
tudinal and cross-sections, drawn to the 'same scale. 
This method of course started from the assumption 
that the height of many points above the level of the 
sea was known, and I had tried to render it intelligible 
on a map of the Eiesengebirge. Zeune, who always 
delighted in anything new, was charmed with the 
idea, and wished to have the map as a supplement to 
his " Gaea; " and I was charged by the publisher to 

c 2 



20 THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

lithograph it. Unfortunately it came to grief in 
printing, for the sole lithographic printing-press then 
existing in Berlin was still very imperfect and not 
adapted for rendering deeply-cut lines. The printer 
had only succeeded in producing a small number of 
copies in which my idea could in the least he under- 
stood. In most of them there were lines which looked 
smudged or double, and many lines were altogether 
left out, so that they . were of no use. The stone, 
moreover, was quite spoilt. 

Schmidt was closely acquainted with the foreman 
of the house of Simon Schropp & Co., the most 
celebrated map-dealers of North Germany, and he had 
recommended me warmly to him — for Schmidt and I 
had got to know each other much more intimately of 
late. Hoffmann, such was the name of the foreman, 
spoke of me to the head of the firm, the old merchant 
Simon Schropp, and to his partner, Gall, describing 
me as a man who would be of great use in the 
business, and they sent for me to see them. In our 
interview I had the good fortune to gain in an un- 
usual measure the favour of all three, and especially 
of Hoffmann, who, I may truly say, conceived from 
the very first an ardent affection for me. This firm 
had reaped large profits from the publication of the 
maps of Sotzmann, Reymann, Oesfeld, Selter, and 
others, as well as by the active circulation of maps in 
all parts of the world. The French especially had 



ACCEPTABLE PRESENTS. 21 

dealt largely with them. But in order to carry 
on the publication of new maps, which they were 
aware would be very profitable to them, they required 
a draughtsman with some scientific cultivation. The 
changes which were constantly taking place at that 
period in the political relations of countries to each 
other, and the shiftings of frontiers which such changes 
involved, necessitated continual alterations in the out- 
lines of maps and numerous additions, which had to 
be executed with rapidity; for this purpose the 
assistance of a man who with the requisite knowledge 
combined a love of the work and indefatigable zeal 
was indispensable. I was only too glad to undertake 
the duties, and without the sioiiins; of a contract 
— indeed without any special agreement, beyond a 
promise on my part to do the work I had undertaken, 
and on the part of my employers to pay me honour- 
ably — the matter was at once settled. We entered 
into close relations without binding our hands on 
either side, or incurring other obligations. I re- 
mained by this transaction as independent as before, 
and could use my spare time and strength as I 
liked. 

Hoffmann discovered that I was but scantily fur- 
nished with the necessary appliances for drawing and 
study, and at once supplied my wants. He had a 
drawing-table made for me, gave me a mathematical 
case, an article which I had hitherto not possessed, 



22 THE SELF-MADE MAN 

and procured for me Tobias Mayer s " Practical Geo- 
metry " (a book I bad longed for intensely, because 
tbe fourth volume treated of the projection of maps), 
and later on Reuss' Text-book of Mineralogy and 
Geognosy, in the latest edition and in eight volumes. 
At the same time he lent me an achromatic telescope 
two feet long, and which magnified twenty times. I 
thus found myself suddenly in possession of many 
articles which were to me of the highest value, and 
saw the desire of my heart fulfilled. I was now 
employed in a way which entirely harmonized with 
my inclinations, and I had the prospect of being con- 
tinuously occupied with scientific matters, and of 
gradually separating myself more and more from 
whatever had no relation to such things. 

Up to this time my telescopic observations had 
been confined to two sights of the moon — one from 
the Observatory, for which I was indebted to the kind- 
ness of the old astronomer Bode, and another through 
the reflecting telescope of the court-saddler Kecht, 
in the Lindenstrasse ; and I had borrowed from ITerr 
von Mecheln Schroter's Selenographic Fragments, 
and studied them through. By means of the little 
telescope which Hoffmann lent me, I was now able 
to distinguish with great clearness the most charac- 
teristic features of the moon's surface, and with the 
further help of the map of the moon in Doppelmaier's 
Celestial Atlas, I got on famously in my studies. But 



A RAPTUROUS MOMENT. 23 

never shall I forget the supreme moment when I 
directed my telescope at Jupiter, and the splendid 
sphere, with its belts and four shining moons, ap- 
peared suddenly on the dark background of the sky. 
It was like a delightful shock. My breath was sus- 
pended ; I seemed to be lifted off the earth, and a 
feeling of deep reverence and silent adoration, such 
as I had scarcely ever experienced, thrilled through 
my heart. Never again have I lived through such a 
moment ; the emotions which I felt on seeing the 
Pleiades for the first time through my telescope were 
only of a kindred nature, though this beautiful 
constellation of shining worlds descending to the 
size of atoms is really a much finer sight than 
Jupiter. I was now supplied from the firm of 
Schropp & Co. with Yon Zach's Monthly Cor- 
respondence for the advancement of the knowledge 
of the earth and the heavens, and also with the 
Geographical Ephemerides, so that I had plenty of 
tough material to work upon, but I went at it with 
renewed vigour and no fear of tiring. I am espe- 
cially indebted to the first-named admirable publi- 
cation for a large amount of most valuable information. 
This journal ranks extremely high in my estimation, 
and I still find in it an inexhaustible mine of in- 
struction. 

The celebrated historian Niebuhr, then Councillor 
of State in the Prussian service, and afterwards 



24 THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

Prussian Ambassador at Rome, son of the famous 
traveller so renowned for his researches in Arabia, 
Asia Minor, and Persia, was at that time working 
at his History of Rome, and required for it two 
maps of ancient Italy. I was mentioned to him 
as the best draughtsman for the purpose ; and his 
publisher, the bookseller Reimer, sent for me to see 
him. He had a long talk with me concerning the 
books of reference, etc., which I should make use of. 
It was, in fact, a sort of examination ; but I must 
have gone through it to his satisfaction, for he became 
more and more communicative. I was amazed to 
find what an accurate knowledge he had of every- 
thing relating to maps. From Italy our conversa- 
tion turned to Greece, to Asia Minor, Palestine, and 
Persia. He had read all the accounts of travels in 
those countries, and allowed that the descriptions 
and observatiens were trustworthy, but lamented the 
defectiveness of the maps which accompanied them, 
and even the inaccuracy of the latest astronomical 
determinations of places. We got on the subject of 
Zimmermann's work on Australia, which had then 
just appeared, and which was never completed. 
Niebuhr had studied it closely, and he praised the 
author's skill with regard to treatment and description, 
but was dissatisfied with the hasty way in which he 
had compiled the book and his inexhaustive use — 
indeed, in many cases complete neglect — of sources 



INSTRUCTIVE TALK. 25 

of information ; defects which are noticeable in 
Zimmermann's otherwise admirable Tasclienbuch der 
Reisen (" Pocket-book of Travels.") 

Travelling in south-western Asia, on which sub- 
ject he had been well primed down to the minutest 
details by his illustrious father, he described as by 
no means expensive, and, with proper precautions, 
not dangerous. We next discussed gipsies, their 
language and their grammar, on which topics his 
remarks were deeply interesting. Here, then, was a 
man from whom it was possible to learn something — 
a man such as hitherto I had only met with in books ! 
Was it surprising, considering my surroundings, that 
books should have stood higher in my opinion than 
men ? I had learnt so little from men, so much from 
books about which men could tell me nothing. But 
now the matter was reversed, and I became for the 
first time aware that there were men in the world 
from whom more could be learnt than from books. 
I have retained a faithful recollection of my long 
conversation with Niebuhr, and his wonderful learning 
inspired me with the deepest reverence. I drew both 
the maps which appeared in the first edition of his 
book; and in Part II., page 5G1, prefixed to the 
maps of Italy, are the following lines : — " I must not 
omit to say that the credit of the geographical illus- 
tration, both of this volume and of the preceding 
one, is not due to me, but to the skilful draughtsman 



26 THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

whose name is attached to both the maps." Such a 
judgment from such a man was of great value to 
me, and I record it here, not from vanity, but because 
it would be unbecoming in me to ignore it. 

Schmidt's drawing of a globe for the Plamann 
Institute had come to nothing, but Professor Plamann 
had another, which he hadused hitherto, made of strong 
card-board, and three feet in diameter, on which only 
outlines were sketched. This globe was now very 
old and worn, and the outlines were partly no longer 
correct, partly almost rubbed out, Schmidt had 
undertaken to renovate them, but had come to a 
standstill in the work, and at his instigation Plamann 
sent for me to consult with me as to whether it 
would be possible to restore the globe. As the 
sphere and the framework were still in good con- 
dition, I proposed that it should be painted in oil, 
making the land pale gray, the water dark blue, and 
the mountains lighter or darker gray according to 
their elevation, and white where they ascended into 
the snow-region. The globe revolved on a strong 
upright iron axle hxed in a wooden frame. My 
suggestion was generally approved of, and Plamann 
commissioned me to carry it out, charging me at the 
same time to have regard to the latest geographical 
discoveries. I had never before painted anything 
in oil, but I undertook the work confidently, and 
executed it to the satisfaction of both Plamann and 



THE PLAMANN INSTITUTE. 27 

Schmidt. . Afterwards I painted a similar globe on 
a smaller scale for the Luisenstift* 

Professor Plamann was at the head of an educa- 
tional institution conducted on Pestalozzian principles. 
This institution was only a private one, but it enjoyed 
the support of the royal ministry, which sought to 
diffuse this system of education by granting free 
maintenance to a few of the masters. Plamann him- 
self, as well as several of his assistant masters, had 
been with Pestalozzi in Switzerland. His institution, 
with which a Pensioned (boarding-school) was con- 
nected, had warm friends as well as enemies. Amongst 
its scholars it counted the sons of highly esteemed 
men and state officials. t 

Plamann had the good luck to possess the services 
of a distinguished and enthusiastic staff of masters, 
and it was owing to this that the school was able to 
maintain its prosperous condition in spite of much 
enmity. There was one drawback, however, resulting 
from the ministerial patronage — viz., that the masters 
were liable to be suddenly removed ; for when they 
had been well trained at the institution, the ministry 
would send them to other places where they thought 
it desirable to plant the system. This occasioned 
a frequent change of masters, and very often it was 
not easy to fill up the vacancies. 

* An institute called after Queen Louisa. 

f The Imperial Chancellor, Prince Bismarck, was also a pupil of this 
school. — Editor 



2S THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

Plamann had often talked to me whilst I was 
employed in painting his globe, and at this time the 
public examination of the school happened to be 
held, and I was present at it. How entirely different, 
how infinitely superior was the mode of education 
here carried on to that which I had received! To 
awaken the pupils' mental capacities, to strengthen 
them by judicious exercises, and to give them a 
definite direction, was the object kept distinctly in 
view. Here there was no such thing as dead routine : 
everything was clearly explained and demonstrated, 
and the intelligence which the children displayed 
was delightful to behold. What in my own private 
learning I had clone unconsciously and instinctively 
— viz., transforming hazy ideas into clear perceptions 
— was done here designedly and systematically ; and 
I realized fully how beneficial to the human mind 
such training is. I made this remark to Plamann, 
exclaiming, " What a privilege it is to enjoy such 
instruction during one's youth I" He must have 
misunderstood me, for he replied, "It's not too late 
for you." I was rather puzzled, but did not like to 
ask for an explanation. It was only later that his 
meaning became clear to me, for at the time I had no 
thought of ever being a teacher in his school. 

A short time after Plamann proposed to me to 
undertake the instruction in reading for a few hours 
weekly, until the arrival of a master whom he was 



THE INSTITUTE TEACHERS. 29 

expecting from Switzerland. He was also desirous 
that I should make the daily extracts from the class- 
books after school-hours, arrange them, and enter 
them in the conduct-books of the different scholars. 
For these services I was to receive the decidedly 
scanty remuneration of ten thalers per month. I 
undertook the work, and thus had an opportunity of 
becoming acquainted with the system of the school. 
The expected master came at the end of a few 
months. The making the daily extracts took up a 
great deal of time, and was an uninteresting occupa- 
tion from which nothing could be learned, so I gave 
it up when my reading-lessons came to an end. It 
had, however, brought me into contact with the dif- 
ferent masters, whom I had thus learned to know, 
and of whom I will give a short description. 

First and foremost was Friesen, a strong, handsome 
young man, who excelled in the chivalrous arts of 
riding, vaulting, fencing, and gymnastics, and was a 
most active and spirited teacher. He had devoted 
himself to architecture, was also an admirable teacher 
of geometry, morphology, drawing, and the rudi- 
ments of botany, and was universally beloved and 
respected. Burning with zeal for the honour of 
Germany, he was one of the first, in the year 1813, 
to volunteer his services in the Prussian army. He 
took part in the war as officer in the Liitzow Frei- 
corps, and was unfortunately killed by armed 



30 THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

peasants of the Landsturm. His remains are interred 
in the churchyard of the Invalids in Berlin. 

Jahn, the well-known promoter of gymnastics, 
author of the Deutsches Volksthum (" German Nation- 
ality"), a man whose influence made itself strongly 
and widely felt, was instructor in fencing and gym- 
nastics. He also entered the Ltitzow Freicorps with 
Friesen, and fought in the war as captain, without 
however fulfilling the expectations which had been 
formed concerning him. Later he was brought to 
trial on account of demagogical machinations, and 
was retained a prisoner for some time; and on his 
release he was compelled to reside at Freiburg on 
the Unstrutt, where he died. 

Harnisch, at that time candidate of theology, and 
afterwards a doctor of philosophy, gave instruction 
in German and reading, and also alternately in other 
subjects. He was sent later as director of a seminary 
to Breslau, and thence to Weissenfels, became dis- 
tinguished as one of the most prolific of pedagogic 
writers, and is now Pastor at Elben, near Magde- 
burg. 

Zernial, also a candidate of theology, and later 
doctor of philosophy, taught Latin, German, and 
history. He was afterwards appointed Rector and 
preacher at Schwedt, and finally chief preacher at 
Strausberg, in which place he died. 

Kupsch, Schmidt, and Beetz were all excellent 



THE INSTITUTE TEACHERS. 31 

masters of arithmetic and geography. Kupsch be- 
came afterwards tutor to the children of the Prince 
Radziwill, and then Royal Hofrath and accountant to 
the Prince, and, as far as I know, is still alive. 
Schmidt, generally called Marius Schmidt, also gave 
lessons to the Royal Princesses, was honoured with 
the title of Royal Professor, received the order of the 
Red Eagle of the third class, and was finally ap- 
pointed librarian at the Royal Library of Berlin, in 
which capacity he died. Beetz was also for some 
time instructor of several of the Royal Princesses, 
after which he became a master at the Royal Cadet 
Institute, where he remained till he was pensioned 
off. 

Eiselen was assistant-master in fencing and gym- 
nastics. He, too, entered the Llitzow Freicorps as 
volunteer, but owing to ill-health was not able to 
join in the war. He was afterwards superintendent 
of a gymnastic and fencing institute at Berlin, which 
post he retained till his death. 

Hellwig gave instruction in music and singing, and 
became afterwards Royal Director of Music, and co- 
director of the Singing-academy at Berlin, in which 
capacity he died. 

With a few others, as Hennig, Braun, and Mark- 
wordt, I was only connected for a short time, and I 
knew very little of them. 

My work for the house of Schropp & Co. was now 



32 THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

becoming so extensive and lucrative that 1 gave up 
the greater part of my music-lessons, only retaining 
a few pupils who had become specially dear to me. 
Schropp had formerly had in stock a post-map, drawn 
and engraved by Jack. It had had a great sale, and 
the plate had become worn out. Jack had undertaken 
to draw and engrave a new one in two sheets, but 
had died before the work was completed. The two 
plates were ready, with the exception that the roads 
and post-offices had still to be marked on them. 
Schropp had advanced 2,000 thalers on them, and 
they were now lying by unused. He showed them 
to me, and asked what I thought about them, and 
whether I was willing to finish them. I had an 
impression made from the plates as they were (for 
no drawing could be found, and probably none had 
ever been made), and examined it minutely. The 
work was not remarkable for geographical accuracy ; 
the towns and hamlets had not got exactly into the 
right places, and the rivers were only indicated in a 
very general way. Jack had been an excellent 
engraver of maps, but he knew nothing of drawing. 
However, the public does not generally expect that 
places on a post-map should be marked with latitudinal 
and longitudinal exactness, nor, indeed, is this neces- 
sary for the object it has to fulfil. I satisfied myself 
that all important errors and omissions could easily 
be rectified, and to Schropp's great delight I under- 



PLEASANT SOCIETY. 33 

took to finish the map, and I indicated roads, dis- 
tances, stations, &c, as well as political frontiers, 
according to the most recent postal guides. The work, 
however, was not completed nntil the following year, 
for undertakings of this kind, let me remark once for 
all, require years to carry them out well. 

At the same time I was commissioned to execute 
a new political arrangement of Reymann's Atlas 
of Europe, in sixteen maps. Napoleon, indeed, took 
good care that I should be well supplied with work 
of this description, and that the frontiers on maps 
should constantly have to be altered. Schropp had 
also bought the right of editorship of Gotthold's 
Atlas of Europe, and at his proposal I marked the 
distances and roads on the different maps. The map 
of Milan, which in Gotthold's drawing was very 
defective, I drew and engraved anew, giving, as far 
as I was able with the then still very incomplete 
materials at my command, a correct representation of 
this district. A few other works of less importance 
I abstain from mentioning here. 

Very friendly relations had grown up at that time 
between Schmidt, Hoffmann, Franz (a very clever 
map-engraver), and myself, and we and our families 
formed together a pleasant little society, which added 
greatly to our enjoyment of life. This period of 
struggling and upward striving was one of the 
pleasantest of my life. I was raised above all miser- 

VOL. II. I) 



34 THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

able anxiety with regard to daily sustenance; my 
income, though not superabundant, was enough to 
satisfy a modest ambition, and I had an occupation 
which I delighted in. The affection of many good 
friends heightened and intensified my happiness. 

Schuler and I, my brother-in-law August, the 
landscape-painter Bohnisch, and two or three others, 
had agreed together to make an excursion one day to 
the Muggel mountains, near Kopenik, the height of 
which had a short time before been barometically 
determined by Zeune. Bohnisch and another painter 
wished to make moonlight studies there, and we finally 
fixed Saturday the 31st of August for our expedi- 
tion. At eight in the evening we set off in high 
glee from Berlin, and went as far as the Buschkrug, 
near Britz, where we ordered some potatoes to be 
cooked for our supper. The artists at once began 
their sketches, and we remained sitting here till eleven 
o'clock. It was a splendid starlight night ; the sky 
was unusually clear, the moon shone with a bright- 
ness such as I have rarely seen, and the aspect of the 
starry heavens was rendered peculiarly interesting by 
the appearance of the afterwards famous comet of 
1811, which on this night became first visible to the 
naked eye. Over the meadows of Buschgrabenbruch 
lay a thick bank of fog, rising to the height of about 
three feet above the ground, and presenting a perfectly 
smooth and level surface, from which the alder bushes 



LOST IN THE FOREST 35 

stood out distinctly. It had precisely the appearance 
of a lake, and the shadows cast by the bushes on the 
fog seemed like reflections in the water. The illusion 
was still kept up when two or three of our party 
penetrated into the fog, and they, too, seemed to be 
reflected in the lake. The solemn stillness all around, 
scarcely broken by the distant barking of dogs, was 
very impressive ; the moonlight danced and flickered 
in the bushes, and the delicious coolness of the night- 
air was wonderfully refreshing and stimulating. Our 
road lay past Johannisthal. We had none of us been 
this way before, and I was obliged to determine our 
bearings by the stars and to act as guide. We reached 
Kopenik at one o'clock, just as the watchman was calling 
out the hour. The moon was gradually sinking lower, 
and the appearance of the heavens was more splendid 
than ever. We stood still to admire, and I was called 
upon to give an astronomical lecture. We were 
tempted to linger here rather too long, and by the 
time we began our march through the forest which 
lay before us the moon had almost set. So long as it 
continued to light us, we could just manage to keep 
sight of the almost invisible path ; but towards three 
o'clock the moon disappeared, and then, although the 
stars were still shining brightly, the forest was pitch 
dark, and, in looking up at the stars, Ave missed the 
path under our feet. There was nothing for it but to 
press on through the darkness as best we could in the 

d 2 



36 THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

direction in which we had started, and we had often 
to force our way through dense thickets. At length 
we reached the foot of the mountain, and began the 
ascent. We had gone up at the extreme western end, 
and were obliged to scale several peaks before we 
reached the midmost and, seemingly, highest sum- 
mit. The lake of Mttggel, in the waters of which the 
sky was clearly reflected, had the delusive appearance 
of being on the same level with us. We had come 
here to see the sun rise, and we whiled away the 
time as best we could. A night-bird which we 
had disturbed flew off with a loud flapping of 
wings. We made the discovery that by shouting 
towards the south we awakened a loud echo, which 
was repeated several times at a greater and greater 
distance, till it died away. We went on shouting till 
our throats were sore, and were very much entertained 
by hearing our words repeated alternately to the right 
and to the left with ever diminishing strength. I 
came here several times afterwards by day and tried 
the same experiment in many places, but was never 
again able to awaken an echo. It may be that I did 
not hit upon the right place, or that the cutting down 
of the forests on the mountains, which had been going 
on to a considerable extent, had destroyed the echo ; 
but whatever the reason was it is a fact that rever- 
beration is not the same by clay as by night. This 
has been sufficiently established by Alexander von 



TWO REMARKABLE MEN. 37 

Humboldt. The sunrise was a failure ; the sky was 
over-clouded in the east, and the sun did not make 
its appearance till long after it had risen ; we had 
reached Ricksdorf on our way home before we caught 
a glimpse of it. We got safely back to Berlin in the 
forenoon. 

In the autumn of this year a number of savants 
and men of business in Berlin formed themselves 
into a " German Society," which met in the German 
House, on the Hausvogteiplatz, for the purpose of 
giving lectures and holding discussions on the Ger- 
man language and literature. I was made a listening 
member. The society was presided over by Professor 
Krause and Dr. Jahn, of both which remarkable men 
it is necessary to speak somewhat fully. 

Professor Krause had come from Dresden, where 
he had been a schoolmaster, to Berlin, with the in- 
tention of establishing himself as Docent of Philo- 
sophy in the University. This, however, was no 
easy matter, for Fichte was flourishing at that time, 
and his system had a crowd of enthusiastic adherents. 
Krause's speciality was, in the main, natural philo- 
sophy, but he had built up a method of his own. 
Things did not go well with him at Berlin, and he 
had great difficulty in maintaining his numerous 
family. He was more especially known as a Avriter 
on freemasonry, in which capacity he had given 
offence in various quarters, and publishing in the 



38 THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

manner that lie did was undoubtedly a violation of 
secrecy which could not be reasoned away by 
sophistry. His personal appearance was not at all 
attractive. He was little and corpulent, and had the 
air of a man who had come down very much in the 
world. He showed also evident signs of having over- 
worked' himself, and looked like a regular bookworm. 
His learning, indeed, was something marvellous ; the 
more one knew him the more one wondered at the 
extent and depth of his knowledge. AVheresoever 
conversation chanced to turn, he could always follow, 
and found himself on ground which was not only 
superficially known to him, but with every inch of 
which he was thoroughly familiar. He talked with- 
out any ostentation, but with a frankness which was 
often alarming. At the same time he was a homo 
disputax. His opinions were the product of original 
thought, and were to him therefore absolute law, 
and incapable of being modified. He had a pro- 
found knowledge of music, was an excellent piano- 
forte player, and was acquainted with all the principal 
compositions, both operas and oratorios. He was also a 
good mathematician and physicist, had occupied him- 
self a good deal with the science of languages, studied 
pasigraphy (universal writing) and pasilaly (universal 
language), and even pretended that he thought in the 
latter, which seemed to me very doubtful. He had 
just announced the publication of a work of profound 



A HA TER OF THE FRENCH. 39 

learning and wide research, a dictionary of the roots 
of the German language — a book which was uni- 
versally wished for, and towards which the members 
of the German Society, with scarcely an exception, 
had subscribed, and in some cases advanced large 
sums of money. Krause took the money — ten thalers 
for each copy — but the work never appeared. 

Of Friedrich Luclwig Jahn, the promoter of gym- 
nastics in Germany, I have already spoken cursorily. 
He remained all his life a bachelor. He was hardly 
ever to be seen except in his gymnastic dress, with 
his throat naked, his bald head uncovered, and his 
small eyes fixed rigidly in the distance. His mode of 
talking was curt and downright, and he was in the 
habit of coining words for himself, which, however, 
were always very expressive ones. He thoroughly 
understood the art of running-down, and whatever 
displeased him received no mercy at his hands. His 
wit was in general as biting as it was appropriate. 
He hated the French with a bitter hatred. The gym- 
nastic youth of the day were enthusiastic about him, 
and followed him blindfold. In the gymnasium, which 
was always much frequented, and where assaults of 
arms were often held, all the figures which were used 
for sword exercise were made to represent French- 
men; but the dummies at which they tilted were 
called for some time " Wadzecks," because Wadzeck 
had made himself unpopular by writing against 



40 THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

gymnastics. I have never heard any man use such 
strong language as Jahn, and it is a wonder to me 
that he came off scot-free from the French, for his 
expressions were every bit as violent in public as in 
private. These two men were the founders of the 
German Society which still exists. 

This year, 1811, forms a more marked turning- 
point in my. existence than any other. My position 
at the end of the year was completely different from 
what it had been at the be<nnnin2\ mid I could now 
dare to hope that the worst pressure of my life, the 
struggle for mere existence, was at an end. It will 
be granted that to reach the point which I had now 
attained had been difficult enough. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

[Studies in geographical discovery — Access obtained to the Royal Library — 
Introduction to Professor Rubs — Advantages of his friendship — Suddenly 
broken off — The author executes map of the Atlantic and Northern Seas 
— Map of the mountain-ranges and waters of Europe — Map of Germany — 
Map of Russian Baltic Provinces — Studies in mineralogy and geognosy — 
Additions to library — Collection of minerals — Birth of a daughter — ■ 
Pleasant water-excursions with wife and child — Napoleon declares war 
against Russia — The author compiles a geographical catalogue — Brisk 
demand for maps, especially of Russia — Jahn lectures on German nation- 
ality — His outspokenness — Retreat of the French army from Moscow — 
Reflections on the changed conditions of the author's life.] 

I WAS at this time deeply interested in the history 
of geographical discovery, and had thoroughly 
mastered all that had been written on the subject by 
Sprengel, Reinhold Forster, and others ; for it was 
the great object of my ambition to explore the whole 
field of geographical knowledge, and to leave no 
corner unsearched. I had had the good fortune to 
obtain access to the use of the Royal Library, and the 
then chief librarian, Dr. Biester, treated me with 
great kindness and confidence. I had the use of all 
the rooms in the library, and was allowed to take 
down for myself any book that I wanted. I am 
greatly indebted to the obligingness of this kindly 
man, who had taken a great fancy to me ; and I 



42 THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

gained much from my intercourse with him. In the 
history of geographical discovery there were two 
points especially which had the greatest interest for 
me, and on which I was anxious to get more light. 
The one was the island of Friesland, said to have 
been discovered in the North Sea by the Italian 
brothers Zeni in the fourteenth century ; the other, 
the lost Danish colony which was supposed to have 
existed formerly on the east coast of Greenland. 
Investigations concerning both these matters had been 
diligently prosecuted up to the present time, but 
without any satisfactory result. I took an immense 
deal of trouble to examine closely into the question, 
made extracts, compared, and drew. I continued my 
researches uninterruptedly till the end of the follow- 
ing year, but could obtain no information. Some one 
then advised me to apply to the Professor of History 
at the Berlin University, Friedrich Riihs, who was 
well up in all matters connected with the North, and 
one of the most accurate students of mediaeval history. 
I went to see him, and he gave me a friendly recep- 
tion. He was a little man, rather slight, and had all 
the appearance of a person who had studied a great- 
deal. He had a goodly collection of historical books, 
which were carefully arranged in his study. I found 
that he was well acquainted with the subject of my 
inquiries, but had no definite suggestions to offer with 
regard to the solution of the problems. However, 



INTELLECTUAL CASTE. 43 

he directed my attention to several other books, some 
of which he lent me. I went to see him about half- 
a-dozen times, and was always received with the 
same affability. We had very pleasant conversations 
together. He was delighted with the accurate know- 
ledge I displayed on the points in question, and I 
derived a great deal of instruction from his conversa- 
tion, for which I am very grateful to him. The last 
time that I visited him, some slight incident which 
has escaped my memory suggested to him to ask me 
whether I was not a Liter at (man of letters). "If," 
I replied, " you _ understand by Literat a man who 
has studied at a university, I am certainly not 
one." Never shall I forget the sudden change in his 
behaviour towards me. An expression of contempt 
played round his mouth ; his manner became cold 
and stiff, and his conversation monosyllabic. I saw 
plainly that it was time for me to take my leave, and 
he did not ask me to come and see him again. This 
sudden outbreak of intellectual caste spirit distressed 
me on his account, as well as on my own ; but at the 
same time it convinced me that all my strivings 
would be of no avail if the academic stamp, by 
which the whole world could see that I was fit to 
engage in scientific pursuits, were wanting. How 
differently should I have been situated if only I had 
matriculated at the proper time ! Whether I should 
have known more than I did was not at all to the 



44 THE SELF-MADE MAN, 

point. At the end of three years I should have been 
a StucUrter (scholar), a Literat, and all doubts as to 
my abilities would have been silenced by a few 
lines in black and white. For the sake of these out- 
ward advantages, I regretted immensely that I had 
not been in a position to pursue my studies in the 
accustomed way. It is, to be sure, the universal com- 
plaint that routine training destroys all originality; 
but woe unto him who, either of his own free-will, 
or compelled thereto by circumstances, forsakes the 
beaten track and strikes into a cross-way ! Such a 
one is no longer looked on as a traveller, but as an 
impostor, if not as a beggar and a vagabond. And 
yet it is not in the power of every one to travel com- 
fortably along the highways in luxurious carriages ; 
very many are obliged to toil by difficult foot-paths, 
to struggle wearily up mountain roads, in order to 
arrive at the same goal which others reach without 
any trouble of their own. But I feel no envy for 
these more-favoured mortals. They have never had 
to grapple earnestly with life, have never learnt to 
know it in its most interesting aspects, and they 
too frequently sink down into commonplaceness, and 
stagnate in dulness to the end of their worthless exist- 
ences. 

My inquiries into the above-mentioned questions 
led to no result. Concerning Friedland, I was 
obliged finally to adopt the theory of Buache, 



A CCURA C Y IN CHA R TS. 45 

although there was much in it that still remained 
unintelligible to me ; and with regard to the other 
point, researches were set on foot later by the Danish 
Government, and the matter was, upon the whole, 
cleared up. 

At the same time, I had extended my investigation 
to the isolated cliffs of the Atlantic Ocean, and had 
accurately determined the limits of our knowledge 
concerning them. Even the most recent sea-charts 
were untrustworthy in this respect, which seemed to 
me a serious matter. The representation on a chart 
of a cliff the existence of which was doubtful could 
scarcely do much harm ; but the omission of a single 
one might lead to disastrous consequences. The 
results of my researches are given in my map of 
Europe, so far as it embraces the Atlantic and 
Northern seas. It was always a strict rule with me to 
be throughout critically accurate in the preparation of 
my maps. Some time later I read a report of my 
researches at a meeting of the Geographical Society 
at Berlin, after which Herr Leopold von Buch stated 
that only lately a ship had actually struck on the 
cliff Rokol, off the west coast of Ireland, to which I 
had drawn attention, and that he himself had been 
on this rock, which, he said, was composed of 
diorite. 

The above-mentioned map of the mountain-ranges 
and waters of Europe, with the portions of country 



46 THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

adjacent to them (" Gebirgs-und Gewasser-karte von 
Europa nebst den angrenzenden Theilen "), I dreAV in 
the year 1811. I followed the Murdoch projection 
for the parallels and meridians, which I calculated 
exactly and drew carefully myself, as indeed I 
made a point of doing to all my maps, though I 
knew that it was the custom of most map-makers to 
copy them from others, which lightens the work 
considerably, but is an objectionable practice. Much 
in my map was new, and much rectified, viz., the 
whole of Russia, the Black Sea, and the countries 
bordering it on the east, and I made the alterations 
in great part from the Podrobnaja map. My map 
appeared in 1813 without letterpress, and in 1814 
with letterpress, and had the good fortune to meet 
with great approval, although the engraver, Franz, 
had made many hill-ranges which merely represented 
water-sheds, and ought therefore to have been in- 
dicated differently and less prominently, much too 
dark. I could not, however, succeed in convincing 
him that he was wrong, for he was incapable of 
distinguishing between water-sheds and mountains, 
was fully persuaded of the truth of Schultz's theory 
on the connection of heights, and declared that 
wherever there was a water-shed there was also an 
elevation, and that such elevations could only be 
represented as mountains. If I had stood out for 
my own opinion he would not have engraved another 



A GREAT UNDERTAKING. 47 

line, and would have left the work unfinished. I 
knew his dogged obstinacy, and was obliged to give 
in. One has often to contend with difficulties of this 
kind ; in drawing for engraving, not seldom is the 
draughtsman held responsible for the faults of the 
engraver. This map, of which some of the impres- 
sions were illuminated so as to indicate the water- 
sheds and some with regard to political frontiers, 
became afterwards the foundation of many others, in 
which traces of the original are not quite obliterated. 
I pass over a number of smaller works which I exe- 
cuted, only mentioning that the house of Schropp 
& Co. commissioned me to finish Gotthold's map of 
Germany, in thirty-two plates. I succeeded very 
well in this work, and the map became so popular 
that Schropp determined to publish similar ones of 
the whole of Europe. This was an undertaking of 
great magnitude, which would require several years 
for its completion. I began with the Russian Baltic 
provinces, as there was no longer any doubt of war 
breaking out between France and Russia. With a 
view to the preparation of these maps, I read all the 
most important writings on Livonia, Esthonia, Cour- 
land, Samgallen, and Ingermanland ; and the notes 
which I made in the course of these studies were of 
immense service to me. Side by side with this course 
of reading I pursued a diligent study of mineralogy 
and geognosy .; I began a collection of minerals, and 



48 THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

increased my store of books. With the help of an 
octant and a reflecting sextant, which I had bought 
at a sale, I also studied, according to Bohnenberger's 
directions, both the theory and practice of the 
methods of determining localities geographically. 
Schmidt, with whom I continued to keep up friendly 
intercourse, sought to compete with me in the collec- 
tion of a library, but being more economical he was 
left behind. 

On the 25th February, 1812, my wife gave birth 
to another daughter, whom we christened Mathilde 
Amalie Friederike. We rejoiced heartily over this 
gift, and experienced once more the happiness of 
being parents — a happiness which is never so un- 
clouded as whilst one's children are still little. I now 
engaged a charwoman to do all the roughest house- 
work, which had before fallen very heavily on my 
wife. 

With the return of spring and the fine weather, 
we were again able to indulge our love of water- 
excursions. I used often to hire a boat at the 
Stralau bridge, and then row back by myself to the 
Waschbank* (washing-bank) behind our lodging on 
the Spittelmarkt, where my wife would get in with 
the baby. We used to make a comfortable bed for 
the little thing in a corner of the boat, provide our- 

* In Germany laundry-work is carried on to a great extent on the banks of 
rivers. 



PLEASANT EXCURSIONS. 49 

selves with a small basket of provisions and my 
guitar, and then go off to Stralau, Treptow, Rummels- 
burg, to the Eierhaus, and even to the Neuer Krug. 
We explored in every direction, enjoyed the lovely 
scenery, and amused ourselves with watching the 
merry doings of the excursionists in the distance, 
and the ships and gondolas sailing past, from which 
in those days the sound of guitars and songs was 
often heard. When the heat of the sun became too 
oppressive, I used to steer the boat in amongst the 
reeds and rushes, where we were well shaded, and 
the Avhite water-lilies and yellow water-roses formed a 
carpet around us, and stared at us with their golden 
eyes ; while dragon-flies, with gauzy wings out- 
spread, fluttered gaily over our heads. Here we used 
to have breakfast or tea, and strew our little one's 
bed with sweet-smelling flags and water-mints. Then 
my wife would lay the baby on her lap, while I took 
up my guitar, and sang ballads and songs. When 
we were not alone, but accompanied by my sister, 
Kasimir, or other friends, we often went as far as to 
the Neuer Krug, near Kopenik, where we would dis- 
embark. Sometimes, too, we went to Rummelsburg. 
These were the most delightful moments of my life. 
So sweet a peace, so pure a joyousness encircled me, 
and I was buoyed up with a sense of noble inde- 
pendence and freedom such as I have rarely ex- 
perienced in later life, when, though I could better 

VOL. II. E 



50 THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

afford to enjoy myself, the perpetual consciousness of 
being bound by the duties of my office, and the 
anxiety of responsibility and superintendence, weighed 
on my heart like a mountain, and scared away all 
the good genii of happiness. Why must every gain 
be bought with a corresponding loss ? 

Meanwhile, Napoleon was making ready for war 
against Russia. His army marched through Prussia, 
and I had French soldiers quartered on me : for the 
first three weeks a voltigeur, and afterwards others. 
This was not at all a pleasant addition to my little 
household, but it had to be put up with. On the 
22nd of June came Napoleon's declaration of war, and 
hostilities began. Prussia also was obliged to furnish 
auxiliary troops, which occupied the Duna regions. 

Simon Schropp's sale catalogue was out of print, 
and a new edition was needed. Schropp was anxious 
that this should be as complete as possible, in order 
to supply the then still existing want of a " litera- 
ture" of maps, and he wished to have a list of the 
most important geographical books to be appended to 
it. I received the commission to undertake this by 
no means trivial work. The smaller items, and the 
works published by the firm itself, were to have 
short criticisms of their literary merit (guides for 
buyers) prefixed to them. The catalogue was to be 
published in French, and the French pastor Henry 
was engaged to translate the critical notices, and also 



BRISK DEMAND FOR MAPS. 51 

to write those which concerned my works. The 
plan of the book, the arrangement and selection, were 
left entirely to me ; but the fixing of the prices was 
to be done by the firm.. The plan which I laid 
before them met with their approval, and my cata- 
logue did good service for a long while. 

The sale of maps was now extraordinarily brisk, 
and the demand, especially for maps of Russia, almost 
impossible to supply. The Podrobnaja Karta, not- 
withstanding its high price, was sought for from all 
quarters with avidity. A few of the plates of this 
map were wanting, and I received the order to make 
it perfect. Napoleon had it translated into French 
and engraved, and gave orders that each commanding 
officer should be supplied with a copy. In spite, 
however, of the immense outlay which this order 
entailed on Schropp, it brought him in very little 
profit, for by the time it was executed the terrible 
catastrophe was over. That all other maps of Russia 
had been quickly bought up by the French will be 
easily imagined. 

A schoolmaster, of the name of Hagenauer, who 
had come this summer from Switzerland to the 
Plamann Institute, announced that in September he 
should give, for the benefit of teachers, a free course 
of geometry on Pestalozzian principles. This was 
welcome news to me. Hagenauer was a man of 
considerable genius, and his treatment of the subject 

e 2 



52 THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

pleased me immensely. Unfortunately, however, 
owing to the course of political events, which affected 
him personally, he was unable to finish his course. 
Another master, Kawerau, afterwards director of the 
seminary at Jenkau, near Danzig, a very energetic 
man, lent me a thick MS. packet of geometrical solu- 
tions, which he had worked out in Switzerland with 
Hagenauer. I copied them all, and studied them 
minutely, and they have been of the greatest use 
to me. 

Hagenauer was afterwards appointed director of 
the orphanage at Konigsberg, but in the course of a 
few years he returned to Switzerland, where some 
time later he got mixed up in the political entangle- 
ments of the Confederation. 

In October Herr Jahn began a course of free 
lectures on German nationality. His extraordinary 
outspokenness excited general wonder. Not only did 
he inveigh boldly against France and the French, 
but he also made fierce attacks on many of the 
institutions of Germany — e.g., the censorship of the 
press, the police, the bureau- organization, passport 
regulations, &c. Sometimes his language was truly 
great and elevated ; sometimes it was finely satirical ; 
but at times also he could be what, in vulgar parlance, 
we should call "foul-mouthed." It was always a 
marvel to me that he was suffered to finish his 
lectures in peace. 



PA TRIOTIC HOPES. 5 3 

In the meantime the war, for which Napoleon had 
mustered an innumerable host of never-equalled 
might, had begun in the most sanguinary manner. 
The battles of Smolensk and Mosaisk had been fought ; 
the French army had pressed, without opposition, into 
the heart of Russia, and on the 14th of September 
Napoleon entered Moscow, full of triumphant hope. 
Two days later he was obliged to escape out of the 
flaming city. Resting, however, in the certain hope 
of peace, he lingered on in the neighbourhood till the 
17th of October ; then he left, to hasten back to Paris. 
And now began the terrible retreat of the French 
army, one of the most horrible catastrophes which 
history narrates. The tidings which reached Berlin 
were more fearful every day. I thought they must 
be exaggerated, for it was inconceivable to me that 
so great a general as Napoleon undoubtedly was 
should have entirely neglected all measures of fore- 
sight, should not have provided for such a contin- 
gency, and should have been so ignorant with regard 
to the climate of Russia. Nevertheless, the incredible 
had come to pass — the French army had met with 
destruction. New hopes awoke in every patriotic 
heart ; the moment had now come for throwing off 
the oppressive yoke of France, and without further 
deliberation all were ready to bestir themselves. In 
Berlin it was not safe to manifest such feelings openly, 
for there the French were still powerful ; but Breslau 



54 THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

was known to be the hearth on which the holy 
flame of patriotism might freely burn. Between 
Christmas and the new year. Jahn and Friesen left 
Berlin secretly, numbers of gymnasts followed 
them, and at the end of the year the York corps 
capitulated. 

For countless numbers the year 1812 was the last 
of their lives ; for me it was the end of one of the 
most remarkable periods of my life. Whoever will 
take the trouble to compare the contents of this 
chapter with those of former ones will not fail to 
observe how greatly they differ in every respect. 
The variety of my occupations had diminished ; I 
was approaching nearer and nearer to my goal, and 
being gradually led into a more and more scientific 
sphere of activity. I was earning a sufficient income, 
and was in an honourable and enjoyable position. 
Moreover, I was father of a family, was happy in 
my family life, and surrounded by good friends. 
How beautifully had my life unfolded itself out of the 
miserable circumstances of my boyhood ! — not owing 
to my own cleverness, or to a well-calculated plan 
of life, but through the gracious guidance of God, 
by diligent perseverance in study and work, and by 
making careful use of all opportunities which offered. 
I was now justified in believing that I was on the 
right road, for the course I had entered upon was 
leading me nearer and nearer to the goal of my 



FIRM TRUST. 55 

desires, was entirely in harmony with the bent of my 
mind, and promised me a sure competency in the 
future. I could thus give myself up in firm trust to 
the guidance of that Providence which had led me so 
wonderfully up to the present time, and which I felt 
would continue to lead me ; and would not fail to 
pour down a blessing upon me if I went on doing 
my duty faithfully and conscientiously, as I believed 
I had done hitherto. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

[An eventful year — The author studies military engineering, in view of 
having to serve — Appointed a teacher in the Plamann Institute — Excel- 
lent spirit which pervaded the institution — A troop of Cossacks appears 
before Berlin — Alarm in the city — Withdrawal of the French — Entrance 
of the Russians — Marriage of Kasimir with the author's sister — Gives 
up music-teaching — Aspect of the war unfavourable for the Germans 
— A friendly Russian soldier billeted on the author — He turns out a 
thief — Projected plan for the defence of Berlin — Mismanaged in execution 
— Organization of the Landsturm — The author made a subaltern — 
Deficient supply of geographical materials — The allies defeated at 
Bautzen — They retreat.] 

rpHE year 1813 was greeted with the most manifold 
-■- feelings and emotions ; for great things w r ere to 
come forth out of its womb, mighty events to ripen; 
the fate of Europe was to be decided in these twelve 
months. On the one hand, more than half of the 
mightiest army that ever trod the earth in modern 
times had perished of cold, hunger, and misery ; and 
of the rest, the greater part were prisoners on their 
way to the icy interior of Russia, while a very feAV 
had recrossed the German frontier and were wander- 
ing about like spectres, with frozen limbs and tattered 
garments, hoping for better days. The Emperor, 
however, in France was working with might and 
main to collect a fresh army, and the princes of the 



FAMILY TIES. 57 

Rhine Confederation were mustering all the strength 
that was left them to increase the might of Napoleon 
and bind Germany in chains for ever. On the other 
hand, every sinew was being strained to put a check 
to the truly demoniacal power of Napoleon and to re- 
cover lost independence, or else succumb honourably. 
Every Prussian capable of bearing arms was silently 
getting in readiness, for the King's fiat was confidently 
expected. Many could not even wait for the word 
of command, but stole off into Silesia before it had 
been given. Of such were Jahn, Friesen, and count- 
less others. I, too, would gladly have gone, but one 
glance at my wife and my child, one thought of their 
utter helplessness supposing I was killed, silenced the 
wish, and I said to myself: " You must not volunteer 
your services if you do not wish to bring on your 
wife the same misery that your mother endured 
in the years 1792 and 1793. Nevertheless, it is 
possible that you may be summoned, for Prussia 
needs her sons and counts on their strength. In 
such a case you would be glad to be useful in a wider 
sphere, and you will do well to improve your know- 
ledge of engineering, which is already extensive, and 
only needs perfecting. You may then very possibly 
be able to take part in the campaign as engineer or 
engineering geographer, in which capacity you could 
do better service than as a volunteer Jager, and you 
would remain in a congenial sphere." I procured at 



58 THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

once Bousmard's work on the attack and defence of 
fortified places. Vauban, Muller's Encyclopaedia of 
Military Science, a few works on field-entrenchments 
and castramentation, and a number of other military 
books of the same kind ; and I confess that I studied 
most of them with deep interest, and felt a strong de- 
sire to take part in the attack or defence of a fortifica- 
tion. Had I been put through an examination I should 
certainly not have stood it badly. I even went so 
far as to study works on tactics and strategy, which 
I found extremely interesting. But for want of 
practice in tactics I could not go very far into this 
branch. I therefore studied all the more zealously 
the art of fortification. 

Soon after the beginning of the year, Professor 
Plamann proposed to me to undertake the post of 
instructor in morphology, geometry, and mineralogy 
at his Institute, in place of Friesen, and I thus became 
installed as one of the regular masters at the school. 
I had already acquired considerable knowledge of the 
Pestalozzian method of teaching geometry, partly from 
Pestalozzi's writings and the works of Joseph Schmid, 
partly from books by Ladomus, Tillich, Himly, &c, 
and I had also got a good grounding from Hagenauer 
and Kawerau. I now set to work to arrange my mate- 
rials and the treatment of them according to the Pesta- 
lozzian system. I had had some practice in lecturing 
on mineralogy, for with the help of my collection of 



HARD WORK. 59 

minerals I had been in the habit of giving free 
lectures on this subject to a number of teachers early 
on Sunday mornings, and any gaps that remained in 
my knowledge I hoped gradually to fill up by con- 
tinued study and by intercourse with the pupils and 
teachers ; for masters do not drop ready-made from 
the sky, and in every occupation, in every profession, 
one must work oneself in. With regard to mineralogy, 
I was obliged to construct a system of my own, but 
the then generally approved Wernerian method sup- 
plied me with a good foundation to work on. All 
my lessons required careful preparation beforehand, 
which cost me not a little time, and as I did not give 
up my geographical labours and researches it may be 
imagined that I was obliged to work industriously 
and unceasingly. It was fortunate that I was able to 
work with great rapidity. 

My new post of master at the Plamann Institute 
brought me into acquaintance with many people of 
note, whose sons were pupils there, and not a few of 
the latter now occupy high places in the land, and 
they — ay, and their master too — look back with 
pleasure to the happy days which they spent together 
in this school. I had very soon gained the full con- 
fidence of my colleagues. There was a truly excel- 
lent spirit reigning throughout the institution ; a 
spirit of the freshest enthusiasm, of the most buoyant 
hopefulness; a spirit of devoted patriotism, of un- 



60 THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

feigned piety and fear of God, and a keen zest for 
learning. Masters and pupils worked with equal 
ardour, and formed together one great family, closely 
knit by mutual goodwill. Each was conscious of 
wishing for that which was good, of doing that which 
was right, and thus opposing the most effectual shield 
to the numerous (though often very weak) enemies 
of this splendid system. These laudable strivings 
of teachers and scholars were at that time actively 
and strenuously supported by the chief authorities of 
the place, who zealously encouraged all intellectual 
efforts. Alas that such grand and noble creations 
should be fated to sink in the whirlpool of time ! — 
that there is nothing, howsoever excellent, howsoever 
beautiful, which a later age, in its new-born wisdom, 
is not afraid to stigmatize as erroneous, weak, old- 
fashioned, useless, or even dangerous, till it and its 
institutions are in their turn swept away, and a like 
judgment passed on them ! Is it, indeed, the un- 
alterable lot of the human race to be always fluc- 
tuating from one extreme to the other? Shall we 
always be only seeking for truth, without ever finding 
it? Each succeeding generation fancies itself in 
possession of it, detects clearly in what the former 
one foiled, sees the mote in the eye of the past, but 
cannot discern the beam in the eye of the present. 
Where is the oculist who shall cure this defect of 
vision ? 



WAR ALARMS. 61 

Already, on the 19th of February, a troop of 
Cossacks appeared before Berlin, and fired a cannon, 
of which the ball struck the wall of a house in the 
Konigs-strasse, and ricochetted against a grating on 
the opposite side. The next morning, eighty of them 
forced their way in by the Konigsthor, and galloped 
singly through the streets. The town was in a state 
of great alarm. I became aware that something was 
up, by seeing the agitation of the French guard sta- 
tioned close to my lodging in the Spittelmarkt. In 
order to learn what had happened, I went down the 
Kurstrasse to the Werdermarkt. Here a Cossack shot 
past me like lightning, his lance couched backwards. 
He was being pursued by a Wurtemberg hussar, who 
had tired a pistol at him on the market-place. They 
both took the road over the Schleusen bridge to the 
Schlossplatz, and I followed them. On the Schloss- 
platz, with their faces towards the castle, and in 
front of the tilt-yard, in the direction of the long 
bridge, several regiments of the Augerau corps, which 
occupied Berlin, were drawn up. I reached the 
Schlossplatz just as the Cossack had dashed along 
between these men and the castle, and the soldiers 
were as white as death and trembling like aspen- 
leaves — not, of course, for fear of the Cossack who 
had ridden past, but at the thought of what might 
follow ; and I thus saw, undeniably, that even soldiers 
of the great army could tremble, which many people 



62 THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

at that time would not believe possible, to such a 
pitch had faith in this army risen. I went back 
along the Schleusen to the little Jungfern bridge. 
When I reached it, I heard a loud shouting behind 
me, and looking round I saw a crowd of people — 
men, women, and children — surrounding an ammu- 
nition-waggon, which they must have dragged there. 
Some of the men got up on it, and broke open the 
cover, whereupon numbers more followed, and emptied 
it of its contents (cartridges), which they threw into 
the Spree. Then the wheels were thrown one by one 
into the water, after which the remainder of the 
waggon was kicked over the balustrade, amid laugh- 
ing, and shouting, and wishing it a pleasant journey. 
The whole affair was over in a few minutes. The 
town was obliged afterwards to pay for the waggon. 

After this the French established a camp in Unter 
den Linden, using the enclosing barriers as fortifica- 
tions, and at each street which crossed the avenue they 
placed cannons or howitzers to the right and the left, 
so as to sweep down the streets. At night the troops 
bivouacked by a watch-fire. The bye-streets, how- 
ever, were not guarded, and if a surprise had been 
contemplated might have been dangerous. This state 
of things continued till the French withdrew on the 
4th of March. On their way out of the town they 
were jeered at by the Cossacks. 

In the middle of the day a detachment of Russians 



THE COSSACK. 63 

entered Berlin. It was part of the Wittgenstein 
corps, bnt the appearance of the men was so weak 
that one wondered why the Viceroy of Italy should 
have retired before them. A few regiments of Russian 
infantry were stationed in the Lustgarten — little men, 
of weak, miserable stature, and stupid, brutish appear- 
ance — " food for powder " as Falstaff would have 
said. They devoured ravenously the onions we had 
brought them. At one end of the ranks they were 
singing a monotonous song in a minor key, with a 
wonderful disregard of tune, and at the other end a 
rascal was being thrashed. These soldiers presented 
a great contrast to the French army. All round the 
castle yard the Cossacks lay stretched full length 
against the walls, picking vermin off each other in the 
most unconcerned manner. Six of these delightful 
specimens of humanity were quartered in the house in 
which I lodged. The landlord happened to have an 
empty room in the yard, so I and the other lodgers in 
the house agreed to place our unwelcome guests all 
together there, and share the supervision of them. 
They made themselves very jolly, having asked for 
and obtained a large supply of brandy, but in a little 
while the whole room was swimming, and one could 
not go into it for disgust. 

Meanwhile Kasimir, with whom I still continued 
on the same intimate footing as before, had fallen in 
love with my sister (who up to this time had continued 



64 THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

to live at my uncle's), had confessed his love to me, 
and was anxious to set up in business for himself, 
though without the means to do so independently. 
He had, however, the prospect of receiving from the 
Provost Hanstein, Avho had a great regard for him, 
from Bolt, and a few others, the loan of the requisite 
sum, which he hoped in time, by industry and eco- 
nomy, to be able to pay back. My sister was a very 
good girl, of pleasing personal appearance, good prin- 
ciples and habits, sensible, careful, and cheerful. It 
seemed to me that she could not have a better husband 
than Kasimir, and he, on his part, had gained her 
love by the excellence of his principles and his enthusi- 
astic love for all that was noble and beautful. His 
poverty had no weight in the scale of my sister's 
decision, for she had always been accustomed to in- 
dustry, management, and economy ; and had proved 
herself a thrifty housewife at her uncle's. It did 
,not, therefore, seem to her an insuperable difficulty 
to have to begin housekeeping with debts which must 
be paid off by careful saving. Her modest and un- 
pretentious nature was quite satisfied with the prospect 
of a humble but cheerful home. My uncle gave her 
a small outfit. Kasimir had taken a shop and a 
lodging in the Gertraudtenstrasse, and intended to 
open a gingerbread-maker and pastry-cook's business. 
On the night of the 3rd and 4th March the French 
evacuated Berlin, and on the 4th my sister's wedding 



AN OBLIGING LODGER. 65 

took place. Provost Hanstein performed the cere- 
mony. We all hoped for the best, and Kasimir seemed 
intensely happy, and at the goal of all his wishes. 
How possible it is to greatly deceive oneself! 

I had hitherto, as I have before said, kept on two 
or three of my musical pupils ; but now I gave them 
all up. Engraving, etching, and gold-work I had 
some time since renounced. Along with educational 
books, I continued a diligent study of military works, 
for there was always the possibility of my being 
called upon to serve. On the 21st of April the edict 
for the creation of the Landsturm appeared, and caused 
alarm amongst the French troops. Fresh bands of 
volunteer Jagers joined the Prussian army. The 
battle of Gross-Gorschen was fought on the 2nd of 
May, and ended unfavourably for us. On the 12th 
the public officials and many of the richer inhabitants 
left Berlin. The aspect of the war was hopeless. I 
continued to have foreign soldiers billeted on me. 
Once I had a Russian foot-soldier, a great strong 
fellow. He came in the evening, and remained the 
whole of the following day. He could not speak a 
word of German, but he was friendly and good- 
natured. He took the water-bucket out of the char- 
woman's hands, fetched the water himself, and carried 
it three stories high ; chopped the wood and lighted 
the fire ; ran off to the mangle to mangle his linen ; 
played with our little Mathilda, whom he had taken a 
VOL. 11. F 



66 THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

great fancy to, and danced her on his knees ; so that 
my wife said we had never before had such a good, 
well-disposed man quartered on us. He had informed 
us that he should have to march off the next morning, 
and my wife had intended giving him a good break- 
fast to take with him. When, however, she got up 
at an early hour, she found that he was already gone. 
She was very much surprised, and said to me, " Only 
think of the considerateness of this man ; in order not 
to disturb us in our sleep, he has gone off without his 
breakfast. This is certainly a rare case." But when 
the charwoman came to clean my boots, she found 
that a new pair of boots which the shoemaker had 
brought the day before, and which had been placed 
in the sitting-room, had vanished. It was well 
known that the lower orders in Russia did not think 
it wrong to commit small thefts like this, but our 
friend had judged it best to go off without taking 
leave, as he probably knew from experience that the 
Germans did not share these communistic ideas. 

The French troops had betrayed their intention of 
marching against Berlin. In order to defeat this 
object, or render the execution of it difficult, a very 
extensive plan of defence was projected ; comprising, 
first, a flood line, which was to be carried through the 
marsh regions of the district of Teltow, from Konigs- 
Wusterhausen to the Nuthe, Saarmund, and Potsdam, 
and to be strengthened by trenches ; secondly, a line 



BAD ENGINEERING. 67 

of trendies on the Rollbergen in front of the Hascn- 
haide, and an enclosed work on the Tempelhof hill . 
and, thirdly, a series of redoubts along the Landwehr- 
graben from the Silesian gate to the Thiergarten mill, 
and a bridge over the Spree behind the garden of 
Bellevue. For the carrying out of this scheme a 
special committee, entrusted with full power, had 
been formed in Berlin ; but between plan and execu- 
tion there lies often a wide gulf — wide enough for the 
original idea to be quite lost sight of, not necessarily 
for want of good- will, but for want of capable men. 

The Landsturm was drawn from Berlin to construct 
these fortifications, but L'Estocq, the general of the 
forces, had no officer with him whom he could trust to 
mark out the works, and he was obliged to await the 
arrival of a superior officer sent to him as courier, to 
whom he entrusted the task. Of what I am about 
to relate I was not an eye-witness, I only heard it 
from others. Several thousand burghers of Berlin 
were ordered to assemble on the 14th of May, at five 
o'clock in the morning, armed with spades or shovels, 
by the Schafgraben, in front of the Halle gate, to begin 
the redoubts. The separate divisions were led up by 
the subalterns belonging to the Landsturm. On the 
arrival of this multitude of men there was no one at 
hand to tell them what to do. They encamped on 
both sides of the Schafgraben, ate their breakfasts, 
and talked scandal. The brandy-flasks which they 

f 2 



68 THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

had brought with them, and the drams sold by the 
travelling sutlers, supplied plenty of means of excite- 
ment. Loud abuse was poured forth on the insanity 
of keeping burghers idling about for hours as if they 
had any amount of time to waste. A disturbance 
threatened to arise, and the subalterns had hard work 
to quiet the unruly burghers and bring them to their 
senses. Not till ten o'clock was the colonel who was 
to superintend the operations able to reach the spot, 
and he was then surrounded by the excited, tumul- 
tuous crowd, and overwhelmed with reproaches. He 
managed, however, to restore order, and directed that 
work should be begun on the spot. All the requisite 
materials were wanting ; there was not even a mea- 
suring-line forthcoming, and the first trench had to be 
marked with the help of common pack-thread. The 
trace was made at first merely by cutting out the 
turf, and the colonel then moved on opposite to the 
Cottbuss gate. One division of burghers remained 
behind, and all the others followed him. Whether 
he had a plan of the fortifications with him I do not 
know, but I am rather inclined to doubt it. Amid 
tumult and uproar a halt was made, and a second 
trench marked off in the same way as the first, after 
which the sappers moved on to the Silesian gate. The 
line from the Halle gate to the Thiergarten mill came 
next in order. A plan had probably been drawn up 
before the commencement of the operations, but owing 



WELL ARMED. 69 

to the length of the line and the number of trenches 
to be dug, and the rapidity with which, under existing 
circumstances, it was necessary to proceed, not to 
speak of the unruly crowd with which the colonel 
was surrounded, it is not unlikely that many mistakes 
were made even in the first marking out, and a good 
many more were added afterwards. 

There were only two available engineer-officers in 
Berlin who were qualified to superintend the con- 
struction of the redoubts; one of these was the 
engineer-captain Loos, who was attached to the cadet 
corps, and to him was allotted the fortification of the 
Tempelhof hill, and the throwing up of the works by 
the Schafgraben from the Halle gate to the Thier- 
garten mill on the Spree. The other, a half-pay lieu- 
tenant of engineers and a relation of Zeune's, was 
appointed to direct the operations by the Landwehr- 
graben from the Halle to the Silesian gate. 

Meanwhile the Landsturm had been organized, and 
the battalions and companies were formed. I had a 
pike made for myself covered from the point down- 
wards with iron spikes, so as to prevent its being laid 
hold of. I had also in my possession a French infantry 
sword, and I bought a couple of pistols, for which, 
owino; to the sreat demand there was at that time for 
such articles, I had to pay a good big sum. These I 
wore in my belt. We were mustered for drill under 
the command of retired officers, and during the 



;o THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

process many absurdities used to occur. We had to 
learn the Prussian infantry drill. At the word, 
" Right-about ! " Ave had to stamp hard and strike 
with the right hand the cartridge-boxes, which we 
none of us possessed. When the attention of the 
commanding officer was drawn to this fact, the order 
was changed, and we were told to strike our right 
hips instead. At the word, "Advance arms !" the 
pikes had to be hoisted perpendicularly in such a 
manner that, when seen from the flank, they covered 
each other, and presented the appearance of a wall. 
In performing this manoeuvre, however, some of the 
men seized their pikes in one way, some in another, 
and the effect produced was very irregular. Orders 
were consequently given that the pikes should be 
held with the thumb and two forefingers only. But 
this plan did not answer at all, for only a few of us 
could hold our pikes firmly enough with three 
fingers, srid at the Word, " Advance arms ! " most of 
the pikes used to tilt forwards and fall full length on 
the ground. Our major was always beside himself 
ever}- time this happened, till at last he discovered 
that he himself could only hold his pike in this 
manner for a very short time. Such absurdities were 
not calculated to recommend the drill to the men. 
They had, moreover, no confidence in the pike. 
Although some were zealous enough, others made no 
secret of their intention to run away as soon as it 



PROMOTION. j i 

came to serious fighting ; for their pikes, they said, 
would be of no use to them against long gun-shots, 
and the French would not be so stupid as to approach 
near enough to them to be easily spiked, but would 
sweep them down from a distance. As early as the 
second week I was raised to the rank of subaltern ; my 
lieutenant was afterwards the librarian Dr. Spiker. 
Alterations were gradually introduced into the drill, 
so as to make it more reasonable. 

All this time there had been great anxiety lest a 
French corps should march upon Berlin across the 
Wittenberg, or from out of the Lausitz territory. The 
reports varied, and were sometimes threatening, 
sometimes reassuring. Generals Von Billow and 
Von Borstell were in command in the Lausitz. I 
happened to have two sheets of a MS. survey of a 
great part of this district; and when one considers 
how greatly a good map facilitates all the operations 
of a campaign, it will be understood that these sheets 
were at that time of no small value. I spoke to 
Privy-councillor Engelhardt about them, and he 
begged me to let him make a copy of them, which 
was prepared with the greatest haste, and sent off to 
the commanding generals. Whether it ever came 
into their hands I do not know, but at any rate I had 
done all I could. There is not the slightest doubt 
that the army was very insufficiently furnished with 
the necessary geographical materials. It was only 



72 THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

later that we learnt that General von Biilow in the 
Lausitz was not even provided with the only good 
map of Saxony, that of Petri, and was obliged to 
make shift with a spurious copy of it, which hap- 
pened to be in the military topographic atlas of the 
Geographical Institute at Weimar,* although Petri's 
map was sold by Schropp & Co. I, too, had a copy 
of this map, and would gladly have given it had I 
known that it was wanted. Under these circum- 
stances, my maps of the Lausitz, if they fell into the 
right hands, may have rendered excellent service, 
and possibly been the means of saving many human 
lives. To any one who, like myself, was witness of 
the. large sums expended on maps by the French 
generals in Schropp's emporium alone, and who 
knew what immense sums had been spent on the 
map of Russia in 204 sheets, and other useful 
maps, such parsimony on the part of the Germans 
will seem incomprehensible. I also possessed an 
old MS. survey of the country round Hamburg, 
and of this I was required to make a copy for 
the use of General Tschernitscheff, and also a copy 
of a plan of the environs of Magdeburg, with which 
I was furnished. These were works of great moment 
at the time ; and thus, though copying was as a rule 
irksome to me, I executed them with pleasure. 

* See " Beitrage zur Gescliichte des Jabres 1813." By a superior officer of 
the Prussian army, General yon Prittwitz. Vol. ii. p. 158. 



DEFEAT AND RETREA T. 73 

Towards the 20th May our troops had drawn very 
near to Berlin, right up to the Hasenhaide. As the 
soldiers were suffering greatly from want, the Presi- 
dent of Police, Lecoq, called on the inhabitants of 
Berlin to send free contributions of provisions, and 
notified the places to which these should be des- 
patched. I, too, gave my share of bread and other 
necessaries. Already, in the first twenty-four hours, 
twelve four-horse waggons went off full of pro- 
visions; and in the course of four days 177 waggon- 
loads — some four-horse, some eight-horse — were des- 
patched to Baruth. One private individual contributed 
3,000 lbs of rice. These were, indeed, grand times of 
self-sacrifice and generosity. 

On the 20th May a battle was fought near Bautzen, 
and the allied army was again obliged to retreat. 
On this occasion, too, the want of efficient maps had 
made itself very perceptible ; whereas Napoleon, by 
means of the great topographical map of Saxony, 
which belonged to the King, and which only existed 
in MS., had been able to survey and criticize accu- 
rately the whole extent of the battle-field, and it was 
asserted that this had given him a great advantage. 
The news of another defeat spread deep dejection. 
It seemed as if nothing could resist the Emperor of 
France. Our army retreated to Silesia, and the French 
followed it. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

[Appointed superintending engineer of the works for the defence of Berlin- 
Defective condition of the fortifications — Endeavours made to remedy 
this — Want of proper tools — Inefficiency of the burghers employed on the 
works and of their substitutes — Female substitutes sont — Consequent 
irregularities — A truce concluded — Partial stoppage of the defensive 
WO rks — Recommencement of hostilities — Disquietude in Berlin — Distant 
view of tLc fighting — Victories of the allies — Decisive defeat of the 
French at Leipsic — Effect on the country.] 



11 TE AN WHILE the fortifications of Berlin went 
^*- on vigorously. Whoever would not work him- 
self was obliged to provide a substitute, male or 
female. I had hitherto seen nothing of the opera- 
tions beyond the works on the Tempelhof hill from 
a distance, but my turn was to come. The above- 
mentioned engineer-lieutenant found that he was 
quite incapable of superintending without assistance 
the construction of thirteen works on the extensive 
line from the Silesian to the Halle gate, and it was 
certainly too much to expect of one man. He went 
before the committee and requested that half of the 
w T ork should be taken off his hands, and that the 
space between the Silesian and Cottbuss gates 
should be made over to another engineer ; and as 



SUPERINTENDING ENGINEER. 75 

there was nothing to be said against the reasonable- 
ness and even wisdom of this suggestion, the com- 
mittee agreed to adopt it. But there was no third 
engineer-officer forthcoming in Berlin, and the 
question therefore arose, " To whom should the con- 
struction and superintendence of the works be en- 
trusted ? " Now Schleune had learnt that I had been 
occupying myself with the science of engineering, 
and accordingly proposed me (then already known 
to many people) as a suitable man for the post. The 
committee thereupon wrote to me, asking if I felt 
inclined to undertake it, and offering me a decidedly 
scanty compensation for my time and services. I 
was quite alive to the disadvantages of accepting this 
offer : I could earn a great deal more by my present 
work, which I should have to give up, and I should 
of course be superseded in the Plamann Institute; but 
I was far too patriotic to allow such considerations 
to have any weight when I knew that my help was 
of importance, and I therefore agreed to the pro- 
posal. I then received orders to be in readiness at 
six o'clock on the morning of the 26th May at the 
Silesian gate, where the lieutenant would hand over 
the work to me, and give me instructions how to 
proceed. In the case of my having to make com- 
plaints of any of the workmen under me, I was to 
address myself to the subaltern of the Landsturm to 
whose division they belonged. 



76 THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

At the appointed day and hour I betook myself to 
the Silesian gate. The lieutenant gave me a list of 
the eircles which would he under my supervision ; 
according to which there were nineteen circles, and 
to each circle fifteen men, or 285 men to nineteen sub- 
alterns. They were not all present however, and on 
previous days too, I was told, the full number had not 
come. I had to superintend the construction of seven 
intrenchments, at intervals from each other, and 
extending as far as the Cottbuss gate. The works 
at this gate belonged to the department of the lieu- 
tenant. There was no plan of the fortifications at 
hand, and the lieutenant had constructed the works 
according to the pegged outlines. The first day of 
my directorship he distributed the workmen himself 
to the different trenches, but for the future it would 
be my duty to do this. After the men had all been 
told oft* to their respective posts I Avent with the 
lieutenant over such of the works as were already far 
advanced. The bridge over the Landwehrgraben, in 
front of the Silesian gate, was covered by a small 
bridge-head in the shape of a lunette, with a wet 
ditch lying in front of it. This shape had not been 
judiciously chosen. The passage was near the un- 
flanked angle of one of the faces of the redoubt, and 
the natural consequence was that the road which this 
redoubt was intended to defend could be commanded 
neither by a simple nor a cross fire. I drew the 



AN A WKWARD MISTAKE. j? 

lieutenant's attention to this fact ; lie shrugged his 
shoulders and said he had been obliged to follow the 
plan, which he had not made himself, and that the 
person who had made it should be held responsible. 
At the side of the ditch the breast- work was supported 
by fascines, but these were placed at an incline which 
was too steep for the loose sand, and consequently 
the sand had pushed out the fascines, which projected 
everywhere. Fresh rows of fascines had been put 
under the projections, but this had done no good, 
and already on the following day the fascines had 
loosened themselves and fallen into the ditches. 
Most of the other trenches were cut in the raised ed^e 
of the Landwehrgraben — fronts with flanks placed at 
right angles whose scarp rested on the ditch. One 
of them, which was exactly opposite the Rollberg, 
had just been covered with turf. I looked at it 
closer, and said, "You have let the trench be 
covered already ? The breast- work is much too low ; 
if the enemy places guns on the Rollberg your 
people will be shot down into the middle of the 
trenches." " How do you know that?" replied the 
lieutenant. I led him towards the middle and said, 
"Stoop down, and you will see that the top of the 
breast-work does not cover the mountain." He then 
began to swear, and asked the men how they had 
dared to lay on the turf without orders ; to which 
one of them answered, " You ordered it to be done 



78 THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

yesterday." The breast-work was then made three 
feet higher. There was less to be remarked about 
the other trenches ; only one of them was somewhat 
masked by a thicket which lay in front of it. But 
there was one decided and most serious defect in 
all — viz., that no single one flanked another : each 
one of them could have been taken singly with- 
out the neighbouring ones being able to render any 
assistance. It was now impossible to rectify this 
error without beginning the whole construction over 
again. Napoleon in his bulletins had found great 
fault with the Russians for having so disposed the 
intrenchments on the Dun a that none of them flanked 
each other, and that they were consequently quite 
useless ; and he might have made the same remark 
with regard to the Prussians. This grieved me very 
much. I had studied very diligently the theory of 
fortification, and here I saw all its rules thoughtlessly 
set aside in practice. The lieutenant owned that the 
fault existed, but did not dare deviate from the plan. 
It was dispiriting to have to devote one's time to an 
undertaking which from the very beginning one 
could not but see was useless. Whose fault it all was 
I do not know ; I only state the facts. 

I had under me two mounted Uhlans, whom I used 
as orderlies to go backwards and forwards to the 
committee, &c. ; and also a few carpenters. My first 
anxiety was the fascine-benches, which were placed 



WANT OF TOOLS. 79 

in front of the thicket which occupied the site of the 
present Gymnasium. I had never bound up fascines, 
and had only a theoretical knowledge of their use ; 
but amongst the workmen was one who had formerly 
been an artilleryman, and him I appointed, having 
satisfactorily tested his fitness for the post, to the 
general superintendence of the fascine-benches. He 
never addressed me in any other way than as " Herr 
Lieutenant," and never spoke to me without first 
making a military salute. This active and willing 
man was of the greatest service to me, and worked 
indefatigably. To make anything out of the bridge- 
head without showing up the badness of the original 
plan was very difficult. I altered the scarp so as to 
make it less steep, and had it riveted with fresh fas- 
cines ; but the sand was so loose that it could not be 
made to keep up. Stakes ought to have been driven 
in to support it ; but for these there was no wood at 
hand. All proper intrenching-tools were wanting, 
and the men were reduced to their spades and shovels. 
There were only two wheelbarrows amongst the 
whole lot of workmen, and I Avas obliged to have 
litters made of laths and planks to carry the earth 
and turf from place to place. My difficulties with 
the men were equally great. Seldom or never did I 
have as many from each circle as ought to have 
come ; besides which the same circles were not always 
assigned to me, but now some, now others. Then, 



-o THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

too, very few of the burghers came themselves, but 
sent day-labourers, half of them women, as sub- 
stitutes. These were paid eight groschen a day, and 
they did as little work as possible, for a double reason. 
In the first place, they did not care to put out their 
strength and tire themselves ; and, secondly, as they 
were paid by the clay it was to their interest to 
make the work last as long as possible. Anything 
like discipline was out of the question. I had no 
more authority than I could command with my 
own person. The subalterns of the Landsturm who 
brought their men to me ought to have kept order, 
but very few of them remained on the spot ; the 
greater part would either go off to spend the day at a 
neighbouring public-house or saunter up and down the 
road to Treptow, and I saw nothing of them till they 
came back in the evening to take the men home again. 
There were some, it is true, who formed striking 
exceptions, but then they had no authority over any 
but their own men, and little enough over them. The 
subalterns could not have recourse to any means of 
punishment ; they stood on the same level as those 
over whom they were placed, and had no wish to 
make enemies of them. One morning I found that 
five great strong fellows had gone over in the boat to 
the opposite bank of the river, where (the weather 
being rather chilly) they had lighted a fire, and were 
comfortably encamped round it smoking their pipes. 



MUTINOUS SYMPTOMS. 81 

I spoke sharply to them, and told them they had not 
been ordered out to idle away their time. This 
roused their anger, and they came round me with 
fierce looks saying they " should like to know what 
I meant by talking to them about idling ; hadn't 
they a right to eat their breakfast?" "Do you 
breakfast on tobacco-pipes ? " I asked calmly. This 
rather took them aback ; but it was entirely owing 
to my own firmness and a sign which I made to the 
Uhlans that these rascals did not lay violent hands 
upon me, as they seemed quite ready to do. 

The hours from twelve to two were allowed for 
dinner. One clay I observed that after dinner there 
were not nearly as many women at the fascine-benches 
to collect brush-wood, &c, as I had stationed there in 
the forenoon. I asked the subaltern who was assist- 
ing in the superintendence of the fascines, a steady, 
well-conditioned man, what had become of them. He 
shrugged his shoulders and said possibly some had 
gone home, but that most of the women went in the 
middle of the day into the depths of the then still 
existing Silesian wood, a thick copse of black alder- 
trees. He added that many of the men, especially 
the subalterns, went there too, and that perhaps they 
had not all come back yet. I asked him to conduct 
me to the place, which he did willingly. We had 
gone a long way into the copse before we saw or 
heard anything ; and I was beginning to think it 

VOL. II, G 



82 THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

was all an invention, when at some distance in front 
of us I heard the sound of an axe, as if some one were 
hammering a post into the ground. We followed the 
sound and came at last to a tolerably open space, 
round which at least a dozen huts had been built of 
alder-branches. In front of one of these stood the 
hammerer who was driving a post into the ground, 
and inside we heard a scolding woman's voice. I 
began to swear pretty freely (and was amazed to find 
how well I could do it), whereupon out of each hut 
walked a man and a woman who had been calmly 
taking their siestas, but who now scampered off as 
fast as they could out of reach of our reprimands. By 
the time I got back to the fascine-benches they were 
all hard at work, and there was no means of telling 
who were the delinquents. 

But in contradistinction to this rabble I had gene- 
rally, every day, a considerable number of steady, 
well-conducted workmen. Amongst these I may 
specially mention an old pensioned-off colonel, a stately 
old man, who in the plain civilian's dress which he 
always wore had a truly noble appearance. He came 
himself whenever he was ordered, and brought his 
servant with him. Both worked quietly and steadily, 
and with the greatest zeal and carefulness. Their 
work was always the best, and entirely according to 
directions. They never spoke to any one, but one 
could see how much it was a point of honour with 



A TRUCE. 83 

the colonel, even in his old age, to be active in the 
service of his fatherland. His was indeed a loyal 
Prussian heart. He wore the order pour le merite. I 
do not, unfortunately, know the name of this esti- 
mable man, but I consider myself in duty bound to 
dedicate these few lines to his memory. The earth 
must long since have closed over him. 

After work-hours, when the weather was fine, my 
wife used often to join me with our little Mathilda. 
We would then sit down in the inn, with a glass of 
beer, and enjoy the loveliness of the summer evenings, 
looking forward to a better future, however dark the 
present might be. 

The active exercise in the open air, and the great 
heat which prevailed for several days, brought on me 
an attack of nettle-rash, and my hands especially were 
covered with large weals, and very much swollen. 
This, however, did not prevent my discharging my 
duties. 

On the 4th of June a truce was concluded, and 
the news reached Berlin as early as the following 
day. 

On the 6th of June, instead of the 285 men there 
appeared nominally only 150, but in reality even 
fewer. I could not understand this at all, and with 
so few hands it was impossible to carry on the work. 
I wrote to the committee, and asked them to inquire 
into the matter. On the same day I received a large 

G 2 



84 THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

number of the much-needed trucks, and a few days 
before two more carpenters had been sent to me, one 
of whom, however, absented himself the very next 
day. 

The answer of the committee was as follows : It 
was impossible to say but that the truce might lead 
to peace, and under these circumstances it seemed 
advisable to lighten the labours of the burghers, and 
only to continue the operations so far as that they 
should not quite cease. One of the gentlemen of the 
committee, who came to look at the works, said that 
if only we pretended to go on with them, so that the 
French might not think we had stopped, it would be 
quite sufficient. 

I could not at all agree with this opinion. So long 
as it was uncertain whether the truce would lead to 
peace, it seemed to me that we ought to profit by it 
to finish the fortifications ; for those who wish for 
peace must arm themselves betimes, and not wait to 
do so till they are attacked. However, I could employ 
myself much more usefully than in directing works 
which were now looked upon as worthless, and so I 
requested the committee to release me, to pay me the 
promised remuneration, and to appoint some one else 
in my place. The 9th of June was the last day that 
I was occupied at the intrenchments, and I then 
returned to my former work. The sum which I 
received was just sufficient to pay my substitute at 



THE WITTY BERLINERS. 85 

the Plamann Institute. I could not but feel, however, 
that all my work had been for nothing. On most 
evenings, and on Sundays too, I now went to drill 
as subaltern of the Landsturm, in the court-yard of 
the new hospital. 

In the meanwhile the Landwehr had been called 
out in as large numbers as possible. I, too, was 
obliged to go to the Schutzervplatz (shooting-place) 

to draw lots. The bookseller R was walking 

round and round the place in the Landwehr uniform 
for the entertainment of the people, as they themselves 
said, and also to attract some of them. Lecoq, the 
president of police, got up on a mound of earth, and 
addressed the crowd in warm and patriotic language. 
On a slight disturbance arising one of them called 
out, "Silence, messieurs, Lecoq chante!" For the 
Berliner it is difficult, even on the most solemn 
occasions, to suppress a joke. At the drawing of 
lots for enlistment I drew a blank. My friend Lucas 
had left Berlin and gone into West Prussia. There 
he joined the Landwehr as lieutenant, and when his 
regiment passed through Berlin he paid me a visit. 
After this I never heard of him again. 

The King remained in Berlin from the 14th to the 
23rd of July. Herr von Mecheln was very fond of 
playing the buffoon at court. For instance, he 
would often let the Princesses chase him about the 
palace from one corner to another, whilst all the time 



86 THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

he made the most ludicrous pantomimic gestures, 
and pretended to he dying of laughter. He now 
took the opportunity of the King's being in the town 
to present himself before him as a Landsturm soldier, 
with a long pike in his hand, and a sword and two 
pistols buckled round him. This absurd proceeding 
caused a great deal of laughing and joking. It is 
not easy to understand what could have possessed 
this "free SavIss," whose highest ambition was to be 
buried in Basle under the free sod of his fatherland, 
to assume a role so unbecoming both his age and his 
position. Verily, there are strange recesses in the 
human heart, and it is often very difficult to fathom it. 

On the loth of August the truce expired, and 
hostilities recommenced. The news that the Crown 
Prince of Sweden, formerly the Napoleonic general 
Bernadotte, had gone over to the allies, and that 
Moreau, too, had been gained by them, inspired the 
inhabitants of Berlin with great coniidence. It is 
often a happy thing that men do not perceive how 
insecure are the foundations on which they build 
their hopes. 

Danger approached nearer and nearer. Peasants 
from the southern parts of the Mark came to Berlin 
full of complaints of the Saxons, by whom they said 
they had been plundered, and who were worse than 
the French. They no doubt made the most of their 
grievances, but at any rate such things had been 



DISTANT SIGNS OF BATTLE. 87 

heard of before. These tidings caused great commo- 
tion and disquietude in Berlin. 

On the 22nd of August, towards evening, I walked 
to the Tempelhof hill, now the Kreuzberg, and at 
that time called also Gotzen's Weinberg. The 
weather was fine. The fortifications on the hill were 
still in a very backward state. A great deal of 
unnecessary time had been spent over the digging of 
a well 90 feet deep, and all the exertions of Captain 
Loos had been unavailing to bring the works for- 
ward. The moment might now be at hand when 
they would have done good service ; but the hill did 
not yet offer a tenable position, if indeed it was not 
liable to be taken at the first onset. The sunk 
fences in the garden of Tivoli are the remains of 
these intrenchments. When I reached the top of 
the hill, I found a group of men assembled there, 
gazing intently towards the south. In the far 
distance clouds of smoke were to be seen rising from 
cannon-shots, and after some time a faint report was 
heard. Then we saw an upright pillar of smoke, 
which seemed to proceed from a burning windmill. 
I fancied that there was a fight going on at Heiners- 
dorf, but it turned out to be further off. At any 
rate, however, the enemy was already so close that 
we could hear and see them doing battle with our 
soldiers ; and this was serious enough. 

The following day, the 23rd of August, I invited 



88 THE SELF-MADE MAN. . 

my neighbour to go with me to the Tempelhof hill, in 
order to make closer observations concerning the 
state of affairs. It was raining in torrents, but our 
curiosity to learn what was going on was too great 
for us to mind a wetting. We took umbrellas with 
us, and stationed ourselves by the windmill, which 
at that time stood to the left of the road leading to 
Tempelhof, for on account of the rain we could not 
see far. We did not hear a single shot. . Soldiers 
came up now and then, one at a time, and also 
peasants from Tempelhof, but there was little to be 
learnt from them. One soldier, of very weakly 
appearance, ran up to us precipitately ; he had 
thrown down his arms, and seemed greatly terrified. 
He told us that he was standing with the rest of his 
company in a dry ditch, behind a low parapet, when 
the French had suddenly come upon them from 
out of the wood. Their drums had made such a 
terrific noise, that not one of them had been able to 
hold out, and they had all run off; the French, he 
said, were much too strong for us. We let the 
wretch pass on without paying any attention to him ; 
but a Jew who was standing by took up his speech, 
and said the man was quite right — we never had 
beaten the French, and we never should beat them ; 
they would certainly march against Berlin, and the 
best thing we could do was to retire within the town, 
and prepare to receive them. This sentiment roused 



TRIUMPHANT TIDINGS. 89 

general indignation amongst the crowd, which had 
by this time gathered round us, and the people were 
with difficulty prevented from falling upon the Jew. 
One man, however, cried out, " He may be in the 
right, but he ought not to be !" and this distinction 
satisfied all. A soldier from the Pomeranian regi- 
ment came up soon after, with one hand bound up. 
He was at once surrounded, and he related as follows: 
A chasseur had ridden up to him, aimed a stroke at 
him, and cut oif two of his fingers. This had 
enraged him, and with his bayonet he had knocked 
the chasseur off his horse, and left him writhing on 
the ground. We had no need to be alarmed, he 
said ; it would be easy work to make an end of the 
French. He was highly commended for this speech, 
and a small collection was at once set on foot for 
him. As no further news came in, we went home 
again towards noon. The actual fight at Gross- 
Beeren did not begin till towards fi\e in the after- 
noon. I did not hear a single shot from Berlin. 
The following mornino; we received the news of the 
defeat of the French, and the town was in a state of 
jubilee. 

This battle was the beginning of a period of tri- 
umphant tidings, which followed closely on each 
other. In rapid succession came the great news of the 
victories at Hagelsberg, on the 27th of August, when 
many Berliners had to lament the loss of relatives ; 



90 THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

at Katzbach, on the 26th of August, in which battle 
fell a cousin of mine, a volunteer Jager, who was 
left lying in the great garden near Dresden ; at 
Kulm, on the 30th of August; and at Dennewitz, 
on the 6th of September, when Berlin was saved a 
second time. I rejoiced to think that our fortifica- 
tions were not needed ! To set against these triumphs 
was the battle of Dresden, fought and lost on the 
26th and 27th of August. 

But now followed a time of anxious suspense. The 
two armies were drawing near to each other, to meet 
in a decisive conflict. At length began the battle of 
Leipzig, which lasted from the 16th to the 19th of 
October. Its glorious result was at once proclaimed 
in the capital, and the news was received with loud 
rejoicings. On the 24th of October the Te Deum 
was sung in Berlin, in presence of the King, and 
never, I can truly say, with greater fervour. All 
kinds of festivities were held, and were not even 
interrupted by the tidings of the victory of the 
French at Hanau. The self-respect of the people had 
risen up again : the mountain which had so long 
weighed them down, and hindered all free action, had 
been rolled off at last. 



CHAPTER XIX. 

[The author continues his work of map-engraving — Mineral-collecting and 
geological studies — Attendance on Weiss's mineralogical lectures — Bad 
conduct of the author's brother-in-law, Kasimir — Attack in the Geo- 
graphical Ephernerides on Jack's postal map — The author replies, and 
defends his own share in the work — Intimacy with Dr. Zernial, one of 
the masters of the Plamann Institute — Yisits with Zernial a friend of his, 
Superintendent Meyer, at Margrafpieske — Meyer's enthusiasm for 
Fichte's philosophy — Description of the Meyer family — Introduction by 
them to Dr. Turte of the University of Berlin — The author advised by 
Zernial, Meyer, and Turte to go through a regular course of university 
study — Accepts Turte's offer of free admission to his lectures — Discovers, 
with concern, that Ulrica Meyer has made a deep impression on his 
heart — Visit of Ulrica and Theresa Meyer to Berlin — Their unamiable 
behaviour — Illness of the author's wife — Attendance at Dr. Turte's 
physical and chemical classes — Another visit with Zernial to the Meyers 
— The author unable to decide which of the three daughters had made 
most impression on him — His wife becomes gloomy and sullen — His 
feelings towards the Meyers gradually lose their first warmth — Peace 
concluded — Increase of employment, in consequence, at map- work — 
Friendship with Franz, a copper-plate engraver — Birth of a son — The 
author stands second in the examination for matriculation — Matriculates 
for the faculty of philosophy — Reflections on the roundabout way in 
which he has reached his goal.] 

TN the course of this summer, I had drawn the 
-*- 15-in. and 16-in. sheets of the map of the Russian 
Baltic provinces, and also finished the general map 
for Lecoq's Westphalia, which I had begun the sum- 
mer before. General Lecoq had some time previously 
employed an officer in Spandau to draw for his work 
a general map, which Schropp had also paid for. 



92 THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

But, on closer examination, it turned out to be so 
faulty that Schropp would not undertake to publish 
it, and commissioned me to do the work over again. 
As far as space would allow, I added those parts of 
Germany which were not contained in Lecoq's map, 
and thus arose a map of North-west Germany, under 
which title the whole map appeared. I then received 
the commission to extend the map northwards and 
eastwards, and I was just then occupied with the 
eastward continuation, which gave me not a little 
trouble, as the materials for making such a map were 
at that time very defective, and it was only by criti- 
cally examining and thoroughly sifting them that a 
satisfactory result could be obtained. 

Meanwhile I had gone on perseveringly collecting 
minerals. I used often to make excursions with 
Schmidt to the fields near Berlin, in order to examine 
carefully the different strata, and we collected and 
arranged industriously. The small collection of 
minerals at the Plamann Institute supplied us with 
starting-points, but I still felt that it was impossible 
to get a thorough knowledge of mineralogy from 
books alone. I accordingly addressed myself to" 
Weiss, the professor of mineralogy at the Berlin 
University. This excellent man at once gave me 
permission to attend all his lectures, and I profited 
diligently and gratefully by them. For the space of 
four years I heard every one of his lectures, on 



A BAD HUSBAND. 93 

mineralogy, crystallography, geognosy, petrefactology, 
natural philosophy, &c, and I learnt more from him 
than from any one of my teachers, for he went deep 
down into nature and thought. The hours during 
which I was listening to Weiss were amongst the most 
profitably spent of my life. 

For some time past Kasimir had carefully kept out 
of my way. I had discovered to my grief that he 
and my sister were leading a very unhappy life 
together. He had deceived me and all his friends in 
a way which I could not have thought possible. It 
is true that already for a long while I had learnt to 
look upon him as a visionary, but at the same time 
I had taken him to be an obliging and excellently- 
disposed man. How differently, however, did he 
show himself as a husband ! He was a perfect 
tyrant. He cursed and raged in the lowest possible 
manner ; he required that everybody around him 
should be in a constant, though useless, state of 
bustle, and he himself when at work always took 
two steps where one would have sufficed. He was, 
at the same time, very fond of strutting about, paying 
visits, uttering moral commonplaces, and filling his 
pockets with bon-bons and gingerbread-nuts, which 
he would distribute with open hand wherever he 
went— thus throwing away all the gain that his work 
brought him in. According to his opinion, these 
trifles cost nothing, or at any rate very little. He 



94 THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

often went behind the scenes at the theatre, and with 
the money which he wasted in giving sweetmeats 
freely to every one he came across he might have 
paid for a ticket in a good place. However, he pre- 
tended to think that the theatre cost him nothing. 
He never could be brought to reckon up how much 
his goods cost him, and how much he made by them. 
He fancied that his profits equalled the half of his 
expenses, but he would never make any calculation. 
In order to gratify his customers and attract fresh 
ones, he used to make his cakes and sugar-plums as 
large as possible ; to retail dealers he gave enormous 
discount, and so he went on, steadily getting deeper 
and deeper in debt. Vain were the remonstrances of 
my sister, who saw the precipice towards which he 
was hastening. He told her she should not meddle 
with things she did not understand. In vain did she 
entreat him not to give away his goods to all the 
world ; he only answered with abuse. Saving, and 
paying back the borrowed money, was not to be 
thought of. Kasimir's oven was an abyss which de- 
voured everything he possessed. He told my sister 
she need not trouble herself about his doings ; but 
very soon she was charged by him to go to my uncle 
for money; and on his refusing to lend any, her hus- 
band reproached her for not having brought him a 
larger dowry. Then my sister was too gentle and 
refined to please him. The wife of a tradesman, 



A TERRIBLE POSITION. 95 

he used to say, ought to storm and swear about the 
house (as he, indeed, did for both), or else nothing 
went right. In short, almost every hour he played a 
fresh part : now he was the rough tradesman ; now 
the sensitive poet, or the noble-hearted benefactor; 
now the enthusiastic admirer of Schiller, or the 
devout worshipper of Hanstein, to whom he had 
erected an altar in his sitting-room; and one often 
felt very doubtful as to whether he was in his right 
mind. All his friends and creditors made representa- 
tions to him, but in vain ; he had the most plausible 
way of smoothing over his misdoings, and of always 
making himself out in the right. His business, how- 
ever, went more and more to the bad, and his heap 
of debts became greater and greater. 

It was a terrible position for my poor sister. She 
was treated roughly and coarsely by her husband, 
who was quite insensible to female tenderness. She 
had to work like a slave in the house, and was 
plagued to death by the business, while all the time 
she foresaw with certainty the moment when the 
whole concern must inevitably make shipwreck. Once 
when she reproached her husband for behaving to her 
so differently from what he had promised when he 
was betrothed to her, he exclaimed, "If only girls 
would not believe all that is said to them before mar- 
riage !" But why continue any further the recital of 
such misery, of which I have already told more than 



9 6 THE SELF-MADE MAN, 

enougli ? Kasimir ought never to have married. I 
and all our friends tried hard to persuade my sister 
to get a divorce from him, but in vain. She 
set herself resolutely against such a course, for 
it would have brought things to light which were 
painful in the extreme to her tender sensibility and 
high moral principles, and as she could not be brought 
to consent to a separation, we were obliged to 
give up the thought. Kasimir, however, did not 
change his ways, except that now he quite gave up 
reading, and could not even endure to see my sister 
take up a book, which she did seldom enough. He 
did not scruple to tell her that ruined people were 
often helped by their relations, and why this should 
not be the case with them he could not understand. 
This, then, was what he had counted on, and on the 
strength of this expectation he continued his extra- 
vagant course. 

So came the year 1814. In the Geographical 
Ephemerides there appeared a critique of the postal 
map projected and engraved by Jack, and in which 
I had marked the post-roads, distances, and carriage- 
roads. The map was abused in a way which was most 
unreasonable. I have already said that the places had 
been marked in a manner which did not satisfy all 
possible demands for accuracy, and I have also ex- 
plained how this came to pass. Jack, as I have said, 
did not understand drawing. But that such imper- 



A RE VIE W RE VIE WED. 97 

fection was of far less importance in a general postal 
map than in any other kind of map is certain. The 
reviewer had fastened specially on this one weak 
point, but he had also indulged in sundry other 
criticisms which were decidedly unjust, and old 
Schropp was very much hurt by his censure; all 
the more so because his animosity was supposed to 
proceed from a personal cause. The Geographical 
Ephemerides was published at the Geographical In- 
stitute at Weimar. Now, this institute had brought 
out a new postal atlas at the same time that Schropp's 
map had appeared. The latter had had an immense 
sale in the first edition, and now an improved edition 
of it had been published, so that the postal atlas was 
in danger of formidable competition ; and this was 
evidently the reason of the adverse criticism. The 
postal atlas was an extremely poor piece of work, and 
far more faulty than Schropp's map. The old man 
was so indignant that he declared that I ought not 
only to answer my reviewer, but also to write a review 
of the postal atlas, and that if I did so he would have 
it printed in the AUgemeiner Anzeiger der Deutschen 
at his own expense. I combined both these objects 
in one article, and wrote a sharp criticism of the postal 
atlas, which certainly teemed with faults, some of them 
of such a kind that they could not be set right by 
correction, but necessitated the engraving of several 
new plates. My article caused a sensation, and drew 
vol. 11. H 



98 THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

forth an answer from the enemy, who took each point 
separately, and tried to justify it ; but he was obliged 
to allow that the atlas contained faults, although he 
did his best to make them appear insignificant. One 
could see from the reply, however, that the writer felt 
that he was defending a bad cause ; and he finished by 
saying that I had probably only given my name to 
the review. To this I answered that I was content to 
leave the field to him, and should not write any more 
on the subject ; and so the contest came to an end. 
About this time I drew seven sheets of the western 
continuation of the Gotthold map, which contained 
portions of France, and which were all engraved. 

Amongst the masters at the Plamann Institute I 
had become specially intimate with Dr. Zernial. He 
was a candidate of theology, and of somewhat striking 
appearance. He had a rather large head, a broad face, 
with very movable muscles, and a broad nose. The 
play of his features was extremely animated, and the 
changes in them almost convulsive. The many weak- 
nesses in his character were counterbalanced by great 
good-nature and power of self-sacrifice. His one 
great idea was to try and prepare every young man 
with whom he had anything to do for the university ; 
for to study there was, in his opinion, the sole means 
of securing happiness in life ; and with passionate 
enthusiasm he would try and bring every one round 
to his view on this subject. 



PEDESTRIAN EXCURSION. 99 

Zernial informed me that he contemplated paying 
a visit during the Easter holidays to a friend whose 
acquaintance he had made a year ago, a superintendent 
of the name of Meyer, who lived at Margrafpieske, 
near Storkow, and who had invited him to go and 
see him. He asked me to go with him, saying that 
Meyer would be very glad to make my acquaintance, 
and that I should find in him a man with whom I 
could have very pleasant intercourse. I did not take 
long to decide, and on Easter eve, the 9th April, we 
set off on our journey. We went as far as Neu-Zittau 
by boat, and the rest of the way on foot. Zernial 
did not know the way any better than I did, and 
there was no special map of this district, but with 
the help of my compass I managed to act as guide. 
There are a number of cross-roads leading through 
the great Friedersdorf forest, and it is very easy to 
lose one's way in it. However, we traversed it with- 
out hindrance, and reached our destination at six in 
the evening. 

Superintendent Meyer was a thin, weakly man ; 
only a few white hairs were left on his bald head, and 
his short-sighted eyes were always inflamed and red. 
He was an enthusiastic worshipper of Fichte and of 
his philosophy, which he had thoroughly made his 
own. For him Fichte was the first of men, the herald 
of all truth ; and even his most trivial utterances 
were gospel to him. Fichte, too, thought highly of 

h2 



ioo THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

Meyer, and at one time there had even been a 
talk of appointing him professor of philosophy at 
the Berlin University. Philosophy was Meyer's 
favourite topic of conversation, and through Fichte's 
system he looked for a complete transformation of 
the world, and the beginning of a new era for man- 
kind. It was by no means rare at that time to meet 
with such enthusiasm for Fichte ; there were many who 
looked Upon him as a second Saviour. Meyer was a 
great lover of music, and a performer on the piano ; 
but on account of the badness of his sight, he was 
reduced to improvising. He had also a pleasant, 
though weak, bass voice. His wife was an amiable 
woman, and in her youth must have been handsome. 
She raved about Goethe. As is often the case with 
poor clergymen, there was a large family of children, 
all very different the one from the other. 

Julia, the eldest sister, was just then away from 
home, staying with some friends at a distance. Ulrica 
was a pretty, fair girl, with an exquisite figure ; she 
was extremely engaging, and sang very sweetly, but 
in intellectual powers she did not come up to her 
sisters. Theresa, a slender brunette with sparkling 
brown eyes and an amiable countenance, was very 
lively and fond of teasing, and of a gentle but 
decided character. Emily, about sixteen years of 
age, had a compact little figure, a very pleasant face, 
large lively eyes, brown hair, and a beautiful mouth; 



A PATRIOT PROFESSOR. 101 

she was the most intellectual of them all, was witty 
and clever, and could make herself extremely agree- 
able. Caroline, a fourteen-year-old blonde, had 
excellent domestic qualities. Edward, Sophia, and 
Frank, were still quite children. All the girls were 
more or less musical, and played the piano and 
the guitar, which they had learnt from each other. 
But they had none of them attained great proficiency 
on these instruments. 

We were received in a most friendly manner. On 
Easter Sunday Meyer preached at Margrafpieske, 
and Zernial undertook to preach at the chapel of ease 
at Rauen, whither I accompanied him. In the 
afternoon, there were two other visitors — Professor 
Dr. Turte and his wife, from Berlin. Turte was a 
stately man, of dignified appearance and very pleasing 
manners ; there was something cavalier-like in his 
person. He entertained a bitter hatred against the 
French, was eager for the liberation of Germany, and 
had entered the Landwehr as a volunteer, and served 
as captain in a Berlin battalion. He had for some 
time past been known to me by name as an adept in 
all physical exercises, and an intimate friend of 
Friesen and Jahn. At the battle of Hagelsberg he 
had received a wound in the stomach from a cannon- 
ball, and until this should be healed he was unfit for 
service. He was professor of physics and chemistry 
at the University of Berlin, and possessed an admirable 



102 THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

apparatus, great part of which he had made him- 
self. He was very lively, overflowing with wit and 
humour, could relate anecdotes in the most spicy 
manner, and, in short, was an excellent companion. 
Zernial had known him for a long time, for they 
were both Freemasons. His wife was a fine woman, 
precise in appearance and with a decided touch of 
old-maidishness, but at the same time not a " wet 
blanket." 

The conversation turned on the most various sub- 
jects, but what caused the greatest joy and excitement 
was the news which Turte brought with him that the 
allied troops had entered Berlin, which event, he 
said, was being celebrated that very day by a solemn 
Te Deum and firing of cannons. That which we had 
not dared to hope for had then come to pass ! This 
circumstance gave rise to the most joyful expecta- 
tions, — which were not, however, destined to be 
fulfilled exactly in the manner we had looked for, — 
and we felt proud to think that we were Prussians. 

Zernial brought up again with reference to me a 
subject on which he had often spoken before, and 
which he now discussed in presence of Meyer and 
Turte. He gave it as his opinion that all my know- 
ledge, all my labours, would be of no use to me if I 
did not go through a regular course cf study, i.e., if 
I did not matriculate at the university and attend the 
lectures there. The university stamp was essential 



THE UNIVERSITY STAMP. 103 

to my success. And though this might be merely a 
prejudice, there were heaps of prejudices, he said, 
which one could not disregard without injurious 
consequences. He was aware that there might be 
difficulties in my way, but I must make np my mind 
to overcome them, and I should be able to do so. A 
schoolmaster who had studied at a university was 
looked on very differently from one who had not ; 
and I could not, he said, dispute the truth, of this 
assertion with the experience of Professor Ruhs and 
other men of less note before me. Meyer and Turte 
joined in the exhortation ; they all three went into 
committee to discuss the pros and cons ; and the 
end of it was, that I promised to do all I could to 
carry out their views. Professor Turte thereupon 
offered me free admittance to all his lectures, for it 
was a matter of principle with him, he said, never to 
take any remuneration from a teacher. I accepted 
his offer with gratitude. 

On Easter Monday Zernial preached first at Mar- 
grafpieske, and then drove on in a peasant's cart to 
the second chapel of ease at Spreenhagen to preach 
there also. I did not go with him to the latter place, 
as there was only room in the cart for one. Turte 
was again full of jokes, and related to us many inci- 
dents of his life. In the afternoon we had a visit 
from Inspector Siehe and his wife, who lived in the 
neighbourhood. He had the charge of a peat-moor 



104 THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

near Scabyluch, and he had erected a house and 
farm-buildings for himself on the spot where his 
work lay. He was a plain, simple man, but not 
without cultivation. His wife, a Berlin lady, was an 
interesting-looking person, and had become well 
initiated in country life and farming. 

Early on Tuesday morning Turte and his wife 
went off, and Zernial and I started at the same time. 
We walked, accompanied by Emily and Edward, as 
far as Scaby, where we paid Siehe a visit, and from 
there Siehe sent us on in a carriage to Gohsen. From 
Gohsen we made the rest of our journey on foot, on 
our way ascending the Miiggelsberg, whence we had 
a view of Berlin, and reaching home at nine in the 
evening. 

Meyer had confided to me his difficulties concern- 
ing his son Edward. Up to this time he had taught 
him himself, but the boy was now old enough to go 
to a grammar-school. Meyer's living, however, was 
a very small one, his family large, a boarding-house 
in Berlin expensive. I volunteered to receive the 
boy, and lodge and board him free of charge, if the 
father would pay all other expenses ; and my offer 
was gladly accepted. It was more than I could 
really afford to do, but I had become very fond of 
this excellent man ; and his distress about his son 
and the anxiety of the mother had touched me so 
deeply, that in an impulse of gratitude for all the 



FICHTE STUDIED. 105 

kindness I had received from them I suddenly made 
this proposal. Zernial offered to give Edward private 
additional lessons gratuitously. 

It was with great concern that I discovered that 
Ulrica had made no ordinary impression upon me. 
She had become very dear to me, and however 
much I might strive to expel her image from 
my heart I could not succeed. My wife saw the 
danger plainly from my manner and talk, but did 
not let me know that she. had guessed my feelings, 
which was the best course she could pursue. More- 
over, after a little reflection, she even agreed to the 
plan of receiving Edward. 

Our conversation with Meyer on the subject of 
philosophy, and his enthusiasm especially for that 
of Fichte, had excited in me also a desire to become 
acquainted with this system ; and I forthwith began 
to study the writings of Fichte in the order prescribed 
by Meyer. It was also necessary, if I wished to 
carry out my plan of matriculating, that I should 
resume the study of Latin, which since leaving Fried- 
land I had quite given up. Zernial had kindly 
offered to help me in this matter, and we at once set 
to work industriously. 

At the beginning of May Ulrica and Theresa paid 
a visit to Berlin. It was the first time they had 
ever set foot in the town. They were staying at 
Turte's, and they came to see us to announce their 



io6 THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

arrival. In the afternoon I escorted them through 
the town and the Thiergarten to Bellevue. But, 
strange to say, both the girls seemed to me as un- 
ainiable now as in their parents' house they had 
seemed amiable. Their behaviour was loud, bold, 
and supercilious. They never ceased giggling and 
laughing, and attracted the attention of all passers- 
by. Their conduct appeared to me unfeminine. It 
is an observation which I have often made, that, just 
as one mode of dress suits a person better than 
another, so it is with surroundings. Every picture 
requires to be set in an appropriate frame. The 
parental home was the fittest setting for these girls, 
and there they showed off to advantage ; the great 
town did not suit them, and they moved awkwardly 
in it. On a second expedition, however, when the 
professor's wife accompanied us, they behaved with 
greater decorum. In the middle of the month their 
father came to fetch them away, and brought his son 
to me. 

My wife was very unwell at this time, and indeed 
for some time past she had, unfortunately, been con- 
stantly ailing. 

On the 16th of May I went, for the first time, to 
hear Turte lecture, and from this time forth I was a 
diligent attendant of his physical and chemical classes. 
In physics I learnt nothing actually new from him 
with regard to teaching, but I gained an accurate 



BUSY DAYS. 107 

knowledge of the different instruments, and of the 
mode of handling them ; for it was in this that Turte 
specially excelled. x\n experiment never failed with 
him, and he handled his tools with a dexterity and 
even a orace which were delightful to watch. With 
chemistry I had already formerly occupied myself to 
a considerable extent, although interruptedly. Many 
a thaler had I spent at the apothecary's on chemical 
materials for experiments. But now my isolated 
shreds of knowledge were woven into a connected 
whole, and I also learnt much that was entirely new 
to me in this branch. 

Meanwhile I went on with the drawing of my map 
of North-east Germany, and I filled in the names 
in the map that Hitzig had prepared for Bertholdi's 
" War of the Tyrolese Peasants." I also continued 
giving lessons at Plamann's, and thus every hour of 
my days was busily occupied. 

Zernial had enjoyed his visit to Meyer so much 
that he determined to spend his Whitsun holidays 
also with him. I had written a letter to Meyer, 
which Zernial had promised to take with him, but 
when he came on Whitsun-eve to fetch the letter my 
good wife persuaded me to accompany him. I did 
not much want to go, as my wife was not quite well 
yet, but she urged me so strongly to go that at 
last I yielded. We left Berlin at one o'clock, and 
went by Kopenik, Muggelsheim, Gohsen, Neu-Zittau, 



108 THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

Alt-Hartensdorf, and Spreenhagen, arriving in a very 
tired condition at Margrafpieske at a quarter past ten. 
We were again very cordially received. The holidays 
were spent partly in attending divine service at the 
different places where Meyer and Zernial preached, 
partly in paying and receiving visits. We were all 
very merry, and the girls again seemed to me amiable 
and attractive. Meyer and Zernial were both tremen- 
dous smokers ; I had taken to smoking a few years 
before, but I could never smoke and work at the 
same time, and as I was almost always at work I 
seldom troubled my pipe. At Margrafpieske, how- 
ever, we smoked the whole day long, and talked a 
great deal of philosophy at the same time ; but 
Zernial, who used to get confused over his tobacco, 
often talked at cross purposes. 

The sisters had caused a strong commotion in my 
heart, and I felt myself agitated by strange sensations. 
The hard struggle between duty and inclination began 
in earnest. I saw plainly how carefully I must be 
on my guard, and yet it was so sweet to let oneself 
go. In the evening, before going to bed, Zernial and 
I sat for a long time in the window, talking and 
enjoying the lovely moonlight. The next day, at 
one o'clock, we set off home again. The whole party 
accompanied us for some little distance, and the two 
eldest sisters as far as Scaby, where we were received 
in a friendly manner, and at three o'clock we were 



SECOND LOVE. 109 

driven from there to Gohsen. From Gohsen we went 
on foot to Berlin, as before, and again ascended the 
Miiggelsberg. We reached home at eleven o'clock. 
The weather had been very favourable to us. I was 
quite unable to decide which of the three sisters, 
Ulrica, Theresa, or Emily, had made the most impres- 
sion on me. 

My wife, however, proved to have been too con- 
fident in her own strength of mind, and now she 
became gloomy and sullen. Before many days passed 
serious discussions arose between us. Women, as a 
rule, do wrong to sulk or scold in such cases. Men 
have neither their loves nor their hates under their 
own control ; all that they can be held answerable 
for is the giving way to them. That which is lovable 
takes possession of them without their own will or 
choice. They feel themselves ensnared, and it is of 
no use to shut their eyes, for the beloved form only 
appears in a more glorified light. No one can do 
more than promise unreflectingly in the excitement 
of passion that no second person will ever seem more 
lovable than the one beloved at the time. For this 
is a matter which does not depend on our own will, 
and it is contrary to the ordinances of nature that we 
should only be capable of loving once. If such were 
the case every second marriage would be a union 
without love, which it should not be, and indeed is 
not of necessity. The idea that only one true love is 



jio THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

possible in a life is a romantic dream, which people 
only cling to till their experience teaches them to 
think differently. The desire to possess that which 
seems lovable to us is also natural, but here the will 
steps in, and this a reasonable person, who is not led 
by blind passion, will know how to curb ; and it is 
from this point that we become answerable. Married 
people are too apt to overlook these considerations ; 
and instead of striving, on either side, to make the 
hard fight between duty and desire easier, by each, 
as the case may be, endeavouring to appear in the 
most favourable light to the one who is struggling, 
the very opposite course is pursued, and by reproaches, 
sulking, and anger, they go the right way to spoil 
everything, and lose that which they wish to save. 
If these passing fancies are treated lightly they 
generally die out very soon with reasonable people, 
whereas opposition too often fans them into a devour- 
ing flame. My feelings, too, lost gradually more and 
more of their first warmth. 

On the 7th of June the courier arrived in Berlin 
with the news that peace had been concluded. I was 
now kept well employed with marking new frontiers, 
for everywhere they were changed. I also worked at 
the western continuation of the Gotthold map. 

About this time my wife and I had a good deal of 
intercourse with the copper-plate engraver Franz and 
his wife. Franz was a remarkable character. Originally 



A CONTRAST. in 

a dyer, he had afterwards taken up letter-engraving, 
and was now one of our most skilful map engravers. 
He was very industrious, and had a good knowledge 
of chemistry, but was too close in his dealings, and 
unpleasantly obstinate. He had had much experience 
of the world, and had accumulated a large store of 
knowledge of human nature. He was also musical, 
played the flute, and had even made his instrument 
himself. He was now occupied in constructing a piano- 
forte for his own use. This instrument, however, was 
never worth much in spite of all his efforts to im- 
prove it. 

On the 24th of June, at a quarter past six in the 
morning, my wife gave birth to a son, who was chris- 
tened on the 10th of July, and received the name of 
Gustavus Aclolphus. 

On the 12th of July I was present at the examina- 
tion of the young doctors at the Pepiniere. Prince 
Blucher took part in the proceedings. In answer to 
an address he made a short but admirable speech, 
fluent and well arranged, in which he contrasted the 
vocation of a doctor with that of a warrior. It was 
the business of the first, he said, to heal the wounds 
which the others made, — a good work which was 
needed everywhere, — and he rejoiced to see with how 
much zeal and skill both masters and pupils devoted 
themselves to their high calling. Long might they 
continue to do so. 



112 THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

There existed at that time a commission of exami- 
nation for all those intending candidates for matri- 
culation at the university who had not gone through 
the Abiturient examination at a grammar-school. At 
the head of the commission stood the Chief Con- 
sistory Councillor Nolte, and to him I went for exami- 
nation. 

On the 5th and 6th of September we were shut up 
in a room to answer the written examination papers. 
There were only four of us, and one of the number 
was the afterwards celebrated geognost Friedrich 
Hoffmann, with whom I thus became acquainted. 
On the 10th of September the verbal examination 
took place. I came out second, but Nolte said 
to me in the presence of the members of the 
commission and the other examiners, that I should 
have been first had I done as well in Latin as in 
all the other subjects, and added that he only 
wished that equally well-prepared students oftener 
came before him ; to which the rest of the commission 
agreed. 

In the middle of September I left my present 
lodging on the Spittelmarkt, which was too far 
from the Plamann Institute (No. 4, Lindenstrasse), 
and took another one at No. 9, Markgrafenstrasse, 
near the Lindenstrasse. On the 19th of September 
I was matriculated for the faculty of philosophy 
in the Berlin University by the then Rector of 



THE GOAL REACHED. 113 

the University, the Privy Medical Councilor Dr. 
Rudolphi. 

Thus, then, I had at last attained what from my 
boyhood had been my most ardent desire ; but in 
what a roundabout way, after how much profitless 
work, and with what infinite trouble had I reached 
my goal ! I was now twenty-seven and a half years 
old ; I was the father of a family, and a schoolmaster, 
and I had established a reputation as a geographer, but 
during nearly ten years of my life I had wandered 
away from the direction of my final goal, and though 
these years may not have been altogether lost they 
nevertheless did not bear the fruit which in other 
circumstances they would have done. And yet it 
was impossible that it should have been otherwise, 
and I could but rejoice that in spite of all obstacles I 
had been able by steady industry, unwearied efforts, 
and careful utilization of opportunities, to attain at 
last the object of my ambition. I felt that I could 
not reproach myself with having wilfully wasted 
time ; the circuitous route, the tangled paths by which 
I had come were not my own choice : a higher power 
with which I could not contend had led me, and 
alone knew why this w r ay and no other was the best 
for me. It profits little to murmur at the course of 
one's life, to settle how it might have been, to 
ask why it was as it was ; far better is it to give our- 
selves up in humble resignation to the guidance of 

vol. 11. 1 



U4 THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

that hand which " den Wolken, Luft und Win den 
weist Wege, Lanf und Balm" (" to clouds and air 
and winds directs their road and course and way "), 
and to rest in the conviction that the road which 
that hand points out is better than any that we could 
have chosen. 



CHAPTER XX. 

[The author a university student at last — Attends a convivial meeting of the 
students — A repulsive scene — Proposal that he should study theology — 
Great amount of work got through by orderly distribution of time — 
Draws map of European canal communications — Complimented by 
Russian officers on the accuracy of his maps of Russia — Again visits 
with Zernial his friends the Meyers — They lose their way in the forest — 
Zernial succumbs from fatigue, and refuses to go further — The way 
found — Visits his brother-in-law at Bukow along with his wife and 
family — Sketches the country — Singular optical phenomena after sunset 
— Napoleon's escape from Elba — Battle of Waterloo — Excursion with 
Plamann and the masters and pupils of the Institute — Efforts of the 
government to diffuse the Pestalozzian system of education — Clergymen 
and teachers invited to study it at the Plamann Institute — The author's 
misgivings as to the utility of this scheme — His report thereon receives 
the approval of the ministry — Makes the acquaintance of Wolf, the great 
classicist — Enters himself as a theological student under Schleiermacher — 
Again visits the Meyers with Zernial — Ulrica Meyer's intended marriage 
— The author's unfavourable opinion of the bridegroom.] 

SO then I was a university student ; but to the true 
feeling of university comradeship I could scarcely 
attain. I sat on the benches, and drank in the words 
of the professors ; the students diligently scribbled 
down notes, and such a thing as an outbreak of 
youthful spirits between the hours was never known 
to occur. The young men of those days were of a 
very serious turn of mind, and especially so at the 
Berlin university. I was looked upon as a gray-head 

i2 



u6 THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

on account of my age. At the end of a few weeks a 
circular in which the seniors of the college invited 
the other students to a Commers (a kind of convivial 
meeting) at the Kemper rooms, was sent round for 
signature. Although I felt no great desire to take 
part in proceedings of this sort, I said to myself that 
I might as well go once in a way to a Commers to 
see what it was like, and get to know my fellow- 
students ; and so I signed the paper. At eight o'clock 
in the evening I arrived at the appointed rooms, 
bringing with me a bottle of wine. A number of 
small tables were ranged close together all down the 
room so as to make one long table ; there was no 
table-cover on them, but they were set out with a 
row of wine-glasses on each side. At one end of the 
table two swords lay crossways, and in front of these 
two of the seniors took their places, four musicians 
with wind instruments standing behind them. The 
students seated themselves down both sides of the 
table, all with their heads covered, and many of them 
dressed fantastically in top-boots and cocked hats. 
The seniors struck the table with the swords, which 
was a signal for the Commers and the music to begin. 
The beautiful tune of the Landesvater was struck 
up and well sung. The students with the swords in 
their hands, and accompanied by the musicians, then 
walked solemnly round from one student to the other, 
and each student in turn, as a sword was handed to 



A REPULSIVE SIGHT. u; 

him, ran it through his hat. It was a long time 
before they had all had their turn, and in the mean- 
while a great quantity of wine had been consumed. 
It cannot be denied that there is a certain amount of 
solemnity and dignity attending this ceremony ; the 
music and singing help to make it imposing. After- 
wards we drank the pledge of brotherhood. I drank 
with a great many, without, however, remembering 
the names of one of them. By degrees some of the 
company went off into the garden under pretence of 
getting some fresh air, but the bright moonlight plainly 
revealed that there was less need for breathing fresh 
air than for getting rid of the effects of the wine. 
They staggered and reeled about, supported them- 
selves against trees, and talked incoherent rubbish. 
When I went back into the room I found that 
they had all got up from table; the benches were 
ranged against the walls in couples, one upon the other, 
all round the room, and the top ones with their legs 
uppermost ; and between the legs of the benches (and 
supported by them) lay the students, who were all 
the worse for drink, and most of them fast asleep. It 
was a curious sight, and a most repulsive one. The 
song of the student in Auerbach's Keller would 
exactly have suited them : " Uns ist ganz kanniba- 
lisch wohl, als wie fiinf hundert Saueii !" (" We are all 
as jolly as cannibals, just like five hundred sows !") 
Not long after my matriculation Zernial proposed 



Ii8 THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

a fresh plan to me. "What will it profit you," he 
said, " to learn so much natural science? What can 
you be after you have finished your studies ? [At that 
time there were no Real and higher Burgher schools 
in the present sense of the words.*] Where will you 
be able to find a post as natural philosopher, unless, 
indeed, which is not very likely, you become pro- 
fessor of natural science at the academy ? There 
would be no opening for you in any of the grammar- 
schools, for there the instruction in natural science is 
given by philologists ; and in other schools you have 
still less chance. You cannot count on remaining all 
your life at Plamann's college, which may break up 
any day. Study natural philosophy as much as you 
like, but think at the same time of your old age. It 
is absolutely necessary that you should have some 
profession on which you can depend for subsistence. 
I do not see what else is open to you but theology, — 
a subject, moreover, which you have deeply at heart. 
You will not find it a difficult study. You have 
already the necessary philosophic foundation ; with 
history you are well acquainted, and your know- 
ledge of natural science will make you more able 

* Biirgher-schools are intended for the education of those who by their 
station in life require to be better instructed than the lower classes, but do 
not need an academical education to qualify them for their future occupa- 
tion. The distinctive feature of the ? - ea/-schools is that natural science is 
the basis of instruction — not the dead languages, as in the grammar-schools 
{Gymnasia). The grammar-schools prepare for the universities, the real- 
schools for the polytechnic schools. 



GREEK STUDIES. 119 

than a thousand others to penetrate into the heart of 
theology. Hebrew is not an indispensable part of a 
theologian's knowledge ; Greek we will study to- 
gether, and if you will only give a moderate amount 
of time to it you will get so far by the end of a year 
as to be able to read the New Testament. You will 
then be qualified to become a pastor, and when once 
you have attained that position you may study 
natural science to your heart's content ; it will at any 
rate be of as much service to your congregation as 
your theology, and you will have a sure livelihood to 
depend on." These arguments seemed to me very 
plausible and I resolved forthwith to set to work at 
Greek, and at the end of a year to go over to the 
faculty of theology. I began my Greek studies on 
the 24th of September. 

The public examination at the Plamann Institute 
was held from the 26th to the 28th of September, and 
then the Michaelmas holidays began. On the 30th I 
set off at noon to Scaby, where I arrived at eight in 
the evening and spent the night, The following day 
(Saturday) I went to Margrafpieske, for the harvest 
festival. This time the eldest daughter, Julia, whom 
I had not yet seen, was at home. I told Meyer of 
Zernial's plan for me, and asked him what he thought 
of it. We discussed the question seriously together, 
and Meyer came to the conclusion that Zernial's 
advice was very good. 



120 THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

In November the lectures began again. I went, 
as before, to hear Weiss on mineralogy, crystallography, 
and geognosy, Turte on physics and chemistry, 
Erman on light and heat, and Zeune on geography. 
At the same time I gave lessons myself regularly 
at Plamann's, had still a few pupils for the guitar, 
studied Latin and Greek with Zernial, went on with 
the drawing of my map of North Germany and the 
continuation of the Gotthold maps, and rectified the 
frontiers in many other maps. If one considers 
how great are the distances in Berlin, and especially 
what a long journey it was from the University to 
the Plamann Institute (and at that time there were 
no such things as droskys, so that I had frequently 
to run at fall gallop in order to arrive punctually), it 
will be seen that my time was amply tilled up, and it 
will not be wondered at that I often found it very 
difficult to combine so many different pursuits. Most 
of my acquaintances indeed would have considered a 
third part of my work quite sufficient. But then I 
had not only myself to support, but my wife, my two 
children, and Edward Meyer, and it was also essential 
to me to increase my collections of books, minerals, 
and instruments. The secret of my success lay in a 
very orderly distribution of time. 

In October, the merchant Braumiiller came to me 
with a request that I would draw a great hydro- 
graphic map (which he would have engraved at his 



CRYSTALLOGRAPHY. 121 

own expense) for a little work he was about to pub- 
lish, entitled, " The most Important Canal in Europe," 
and in which he recommended that the Weichsel and 
the Dniester should be connected together, and pointed 
out the advantages which would accrue to commerce 
from such a step. I undertook the work, and promised 
at the same time to prepare a comparative account 
of the most important canal communications in 
Europe. 

Professor Weiss was anxious to determine with 
great accuracy the angles of the rock-crystal, and 
he asked me if I knew of any better method than 
that by means of the ordinary goniometer ? The 
Wollaston reflecting; goniometer was not vet known 
in Berlin. I thought it must be possible to attain 
the desired end by means of a reflecting sextant, and 
tried to evolve a method which also depended on the 
reflections of the surfaces of the crystal. I fastened 
the crystal with wax to the turning-point of the 
alidade. After I had Avorked out the theory of this 
mode of measurement, I went on to the practice of 
it, making use of the spire of the Jerusalem Church 
as reflecting-point. In this way I obtained a series 
of coinciding angles, and Weiss was quite satisfied 
with the result. 

Many of the Russian officers returning from the 
campaign came to see me, anxious to make my ac- 
quaintance. Two of them, who had landed property 



122 THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

in Lievland, wanted to know where I had got my 
information for the drawing of the marshes and 
forests in the Russian Baltic provinces, for as these 
were not represented on any other map, they thought 
I must have obtained written information from 
Russia, They said that those regions which were 
known to them, which indeed in part belonged to 
them, were more faithfully depicted on my map 
than anywhere else. I had certainly not drawn the 
marshes, forests, and elevations from another map ; I 
had relied solely on a careful and critical study of all 
the topographical works I could get hold of. It was 
extremely gratifying to me to learn that my very 
arduous labours had not ended in failure. I was 
gradually becoming more and more widely known 
through my geographical Avorks, and even the Geo- 
graphical Ephemerides, once so hostile to me, was 
compelled in an article on the " Contributions of 
Modern Times to Geographical Knowledge, and its 
Present Position," to mention me as one of the first 
geographers of the day. 

Zernial and I had agreed to spend our Easter 
holidays at Margrafpieske. We left Berlin at mid-day 
on the 25th of March, the day before Easter, and this 
time we chose the somewhat shorter road by Lucl- 
wigsruh and Sussengriin. The weather was gloomy. 
At Schmockwitz we were obliged to cross the river in 
a boat, as the bridge had been burnt down during the 



IN THE FOREST. 123 

war and was not yet rebuilt. At Wernsdorf we found 
the same state of tilings. In both these villages the 
bread ovens were all smoking, for the Easter-cakes 
were being baked. After leaving Wernsdorf we 
entered the great forest of Friedersdorf, and I told 
Zernial that here it would be impossible to find our 
bearings, as the sun was not visible. We had made 
inquiries concerning the way as we came out of the 
village, but had received very hazy directions, as our 
informant did not know exactly where Margrafpieske 
was. There was nothing left therefore but to trust 
to our own inspirations. We plunged into the forest, 
taking the first road that came ; whether it was the 
right one or not was very doubtful. After we had 
walked on for some time, Zernial asked me if we 
were going the right way. I laughed, and said that 
was a question which I had just as much need to ask 
him. Thereupon he became very cross, and said I 
did not seem to mind whether we were going the 
right way or the wrong way, but that he minded very 
much, for he was quite tired. At length I perceived 
in an enclosure on one side of us a solitary forester's 
hut, and towards this we directed our steps. A 
young girl, about sixteen years old, was the only one 
at home. From her we learnt that we were on the road 
to Nieder-Lohme. She did not know where the other 
roads which passed the house led to, but she had 
heard say, that if one went some way further down 



124 THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

the enclosure, one came to Spreenhagen. She herself, 
however, had never gone so far. Blissful state of 
ignorance ! For this young girl all geographical 
knowledge ended within a mile of her own home, 
and the rest of the world was misty and unknown 
space. The sphere of her activity was almost as 
circumscribed as her world, and the stags and deer 
had more knowledge than she had of the earth they 
lived on. How far, I wonder, in such a being do the 
limits of thought extend ? We wandered on our 
way, and soon came to a road which crossed the 
enclosure, and which we thought must be the right 
one. It seemed, however, as if it would never come 
to an end, and Zernial grew very disagreeable, and 
declared without any further reason that we were 
going astray. At length he positively refused to go 
on by this road, and in order to pacify him I was 
obliged to strike off to the right along a path which 
crossed the road, and which, if it did not lead direct 
to Spreenhagen, must, I knew, take us to some place 
near by. Night was coming on, and as yet we did 
not see our way clearly out of the wood. Zernial, 
too, was beginning to walk lame : I was also very 
tired, but nevertheless I gave him my arm and sup- 
ported him. After about a quarter of an hour, he 
announced that he could not go another step, and 
that he should remain where he was while I went 
on by myself; and accordingly he lay down on 



THE WA Y FOUND. 125 

the ground. I remonstrated with him, and exhorted 
him above all things not to let his heated body 
come in contact with the damp soil. But all in vain! 
he declared that he could neither get up nor walk, 
and, even if he died on the spot, I had better go on 
and leave him. My distress may be imagined ; no 
amount of persuasion or entreaty was of the slightest 
use ; there he lay, like a sack of flour, as if he could 
not move a single limb. By dint of tremendous 
exertion, however, I succeeded at last in raising him 
up, and propping him against the tree under which 
he had lain down, and I then ran off by the side path 
to see if there was any help to be procured. I had 
scarcely gone four hundred steps, when I observed 
that the wood was growing lighter, and a little further 
on I saw tolerably near to me an isolated forester's 
house. A load fell from my heart. I ran back and 
announced the good news to Zernial, who received 
it almost with indifference. However, I persuaded 
him to try and walk, and made him lean firmly on 
my arm ; he thus hobbled along as if at every step his 
knees would give way. I was dreadfully afraid that 
he would have a serious illness in consequence. But 
when he caught sight of the forester's house, he sud- 
denly drew himself up, and we were able to approach 
the house without causing a sensation. We were 
received in a very friendly manner, and informed 
that it was the house of the forester of Scabyluch. 



126 THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

Siehe's house was not much more than a mile distant, 
and we could see his farm from the window. Zernial 
at once revived, and all his fatigue was forgotten. 
We were copiously regaled with coffee and freshly- 
baked Easter cakes, and Zernial laughed and joked, 
and was so merry and lively, that one could not 
recognize in him the man of half-an-hour before. I 
had not thought it possible that mere despondency 
could have such an effect on the body. He walked 
without the least difficulty to Siehe's, and thence we 
were driven the same day to Margrafpieske. 

Here we learned that Ulrica was betrothed. Her 
lover was an officer of justice at Storkow. He paid 
a visit to the house on Easter Monday, and did not 
make at all a pleasant impression on me. He seemed 
to me cold, reserved, domineering, and arbitrary. I 
did not think it was likely to be a happy marriage, 
and I told Meyer so. He agreed with me that his 
future son-in-law had some very unamiable qualities, 
but said that he was on the way to improve ; for 
that he had a strong sense and susceptibility for the 
beautiful, and that a man who could love what was 
good must in time go on to something more. I did 
not like to contradict him, "but could not agree to 
this sentiment. The next day Zernial and I went 
home again. 

At Whitsuntide I resolved to pay a visit, with 
my wife and children, to my brother-in-law, August 



A STRANGE APPARITION. 127 

Heyl, who was a schoolmaster at Bukow. It was 
essential to perform the journey as cheaply as pos- 
sible, and so I profited by an opportunity of a lift 
part of the way. We started in the afternoon in 
a peasant's open cart, in which we drove as far as 
Dahlwitz. There we spent the night, and the next 
day went on to Mtincheberg, whence I took a 
carriage to Bukow. The country round Bukow is 
very pretty and hilly, and dotted with lovely trans- 
parent lakes. There was at that time no special 
map of this district, and so I made a sketch of it. 
As I had no instruments with me, I was obliged to 
take the survey by alineation. In so doing, I went 
through an experience which was quite novel to me. 
The sun had just gone down, and the sky was dark 
and cloudy. I had by me a small achromatic tele- 
scope, and, standing on a height, I directed it to- 
wards the church tower of Mtincheberg. I did not 
get the right focus immediately, but suddenly the 
tower appeared on the lens, cloudy, and with a con- 
fused outline, and looking so spectre-like that I 
started with horror, and let the telescope fall from 
my hand. Puzzled by this strange apparition, I 
thought I would repeat the experiment, and, strug- 
gling with my fears, I again held up the telescope. 
Again the spectre-tower appeared ; I felt as if the 
ground was being carried away from under my feet ; 
I was obliged to close my eyes, and cold shudders 



128 THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

went through me. Not for any money would I 
have ventured to look through the telescope again. 
What could have been the meaning of this mysterious 
illusion ? No veritable ghost could have produced in 
me a more lively feeling of horror, and yet I knew 
that what I saw was a solid material tower, which 
had nothing in the least horrible about it. There 
was no idea of an unknown something mixed up in 
the case, and yet the apparition had this strange 
effect on me. It might be called a physical ghost. 
We stayed two days at Bukow, and then returned 
home. 

Meanwhile, great events had taken place in the 
political world. Napoleon had escaped from Elba, 
landed in France, made his appearance in Paris, and 
the days of the old Imperial regime seemed to have 
returned. The battle of Ligny was fought ; the 
battle of Waterloo followed on the 18th of June, and 
Napoleon's might was shattered for ever. The 
Prussian officer who first brought the news of this 
great victory to Berlin brought with him also a 
sketch of the different positions of the army. 
Schropp wished to have a map made from this 
sketch, with these positions marked on it, and com- 
missioned me to draw one, which I did, giving also, 
as far as I was able from the accounts received, a 
description of the battle ; and this Schropp had 
printed in French and German. Both the map and 



A LITTLE TRIP. 129 

the written account appeared in a comparatively 
short time after the battle. 

There was again plenty of work for me to do in 
altering frontier lines on maps. 

In July I went for a little trip, in company with 
Plamann, his wife, and the masters and pupils of the 
school. We slept the first night at Stimming, on the 
Wannsee, behind Zehlendorf, and got up early to 
see the sun rise, which we all found a very shivery 
entertainment. From Stimming we went to Potsdam 
and Baumgartenbriick, where we arrived at six in 
the evening. After supper we went out to enjoy the 
beautiful view from the mountain, and there I picked 
the Stipa pennata, L. The evening was lovely, and 
its beauty was enhanced by the appearance of bright 
sheet-lightning in the west, which continued for a 
long time, and formed a kind of accompaniment to 
our conversation. We learned afterwards that there 
had been a heavy thunderstorm that evening in the 
Hartz mountains. The next day we went home. 

An immense deal was done by the Ministry for the 
diffusion of the Pestalozzian system. All the public 
authorities were firmly impressed with the conviction 
that only an intelligent populace, conscious of and 
relying on its powers and understanding was able, 
under God, to uphold the dignity of the Prussian name. 
In external might the most insignificant of the great 
states, Prussia felt that she must make up for this 

VOL. II. K 



1 3 o THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

deficiency by inward strength, and this was only 
possible through the spreading of a real and genuine 
culture, and of political institutions harmonizing 
with it. The war that had just ended had shown to 
the wondering world what a marvellous effect such 
strengthening of the power and self-respect of the 
people was able to work, and this effect was the result 
of the combined strivings of men of science states- 
men, and schoolmasters. Never has the deep im- 
portance of a thorough education of the people and 
of rational institutions been more truly recognized, 
more highly prized ; never were the efforts towards 
the attainment of this end rewarded with such 
brilliant results as in that glorious, energetic, and 
deed-fruitful time. 

Pestalozzi's principles and method of instruction 
were seen to be an invaluable aid to the accomplish- 
ment of the object in view, and much was, therefore, 
done for the furtherance of his system. The Ministry 
was not satisfied with sending competent men to 
Switzerland, and keeping them there at its own ex- 
pense until they had mastered the method, but it 
also maintained in constant succession a number of 
masters at the Plamann Institute, and these, after 
several years' service and training, were then sent to 
different places to diffuse, in their turn, the know- 
ledge they had acquired. And in the summer of 
1815 the Ministry invited a number of clergymen 



MISGIVINGS. 131 

who had shown themselves specially active in the 
improvement of education, as also several school- 
masters who were known to be energetic and zealous 
men, to come to Berlin, free of expense, and make 
themselves acquainted with the Pestalozzian system 
as carried out in the Plamann Institute. Plamann 
was instructed to receive them, and initiate them in 
the theory and practice of his method of education, 
and he accordingly charged all the masters, each in 
his separate department, to show these gentlemen 
how they arranged their courses, and also to give 
them an opportunity of seeing the mode of treating 
the different subjects in class. 

I must confess that I had some misgivings as to 
the utility of the scheme. When I considered how 
long it had taken me to master the application of 
Pestalozzian principles to the subject matter in 
which I was to instruct, and to arrange my materials 
according to this method, and that up to the present 
time both I and the other masters had only arrived at 
certainty with regard to the mathematical department, 
while in others we were still only in the beginning, 
and groping about uncertainly in the dark, it seemed 
to me impossible that the short period of two weeks 
could suffice to give an insight, even in one branch 
only, into the nature of the system and the arrange- 
ment and treatment of the special subjects, still less to 
put those who attended the lectures in a position to 

k2 



132 THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

give instructions themselves according to this method, 
or to teach others to do so. True we should have 
to deal with men of cultivation, who were them- 
selves teachers ; but then I had only lately dis- 
covered that these were just the most difficult people 
to be got to look at a subject from a point of view 
different from their own. 

However, they came. Preliminary conferences 
were held, and Plamann devoted a feAv hours to an 
introductory address on the principles of the method. 
Clearness was not its chief merit, and it did not 
seem to make any very remarkable impression on the 
audience. Then followed the special lectures, and 
at the end of the fortnight we were all compelled to 
agree that nothing had been achieved. The experience 
of all the masters had been equally unsatisfactory. 
Plamann called upon us to make written reports of 
our several proceedings to be sent with his own 
report to the University, and as I have hitherto said 
but little concerning my pedagogic work, it seems to 
me not unfitting to transcribe my report here, word 
for word, only omitting names. 

" Honoured Sir, 
" Being called upon by you to give a report on the 
mathematical lectures which I delivered this summer 
before the clergymen and schoolmasters who met at 
your Institute, I have to relate as follows : — - 



A REPORT. 133 

" Owing to the delay in the commencement of the 
course, the number of lectures was less than had 
originally been decided on, and I was therefore 
obliged to aim at even a closer compression of my 
subject than would otherwise have been necessary. 
But I still hoped to be able to treat with profit the 
projected syllabus, and to go through with it up to a 
certain point, and that all the more as I supposed 
I might take it for granted that the gentlemen whom 
I was to address were already acquainted, through 
the study of Joseph Schmidt's works, with the 
Pestalozzian method of treating this subject. All, 
therefore, that it would be necessary for me to do 
was, I thought, to show how far the method as 
carried out in your Institute differed from the ori- 
ginal system sketched by Pestalozzi, to what extent 
his ideas had been perfected here, and how much 
had been grafted on that was entirely new. This 
was certainly no small undertaking, but neverthe- 
less it seemed to me that the number of lectures 
and classes fixed upon would be sufficient for the 
purpose, and I contemplated by the instruction given 
in the classes to illustrate practically the physiological 
part of the teaching, and to show how the different 
exercises should be adapted to the separate indi- 
viduality of each child. 

"The first hour I devoted to morphology, giving 
an exposition of the chief principles and of the 



134 THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

general tenor of my mode of preparing the 
lessons. Nearly all the gentlemen were present, 
and at the end of the lecture they assured me 
that they felt the liveliest interest in the subject, 
and with nattering expressions on the value of 
this new method of teaching, several of them 
advised me to lose no time in making it known to 
the public. Others said that my lecture had fully 
convinced them that the usual way of treating this 
branch of instruction was very defective, but re- 
gretted that I was only able to devote so short a time 
to the subject ; for that they did not feel themselves 
qualified by only an hour's teaching to adopt my 
system, and that they were thus left without any 
method whatever. I felt the force of their remarks, 
but I could not intrench on the time set apart for 
other lectures, and I therefore offered to devote a 
few extra hours to a more detailed exposition of 
this subject, leaving it to them to choose their own 
time. They all seemed delighted with the proposal, 
and agreed to consider amongst themselves which 
would be the most convenient hours. I imagined 
that I was about to gratify an eager desire, but with 

the exception of the Precentor G , not one of 

them ever again reverted to the question. 

" The next subject was geometry, in which I had 
planned confining myself to the general mode of 
treatment, as I presumed that my audience were 



IGNORANT TEACHERS. 135 

already well acquainted with the matter. I pro- 
ceeded on this principle till I came to polygons with 
external angles, which, according to my opinion, 
form splendid material for pedagogic treatment. 
Here, however, I could not assume any preliminary 
knowledge, for, as far as I knew, this part of 
geometry had nowhere else been so completely 
worked out as in our institution, and as yet nothing 
had been made publicly known of our system. 
Accordingly in the following lessons I adopted a 
more special plan ; and, as it turned out, I had not 
been mistaken in my supposition. This subject was 
quite new ; but, to my astonishment, I found that a 
large proportion of the gentlemen were entirely igno- 
rant of geometry generally, and that the rest had 
so slight a knowledge of it that to follow with any 
profit a general course of lectures on the subject 
was quite out of the question for them. Many of 
them had never even heard of Schmidt's text-books, 
and the rest only knew them by name. 

" Under these circumstances I could not abide by 
my original plan. How was it possible for me to 
teach the treatment of a subject when the subject 
itself was not known ? If I wished my lecture to 
be in the slightest degree useful, I saw that I must 
consider the materials as well as the handling of 
them, and although the time at my disposal was not 
sufficient for an exhaustive treatment of both these 



136 THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

points, I nevertheless felt that by the one course I might 
at any rate achieve something, while by the other 
nothing would be done. I therefore resolved on this 
double course. 

" I was aware that at the first general conference 

Pastor N of T had protested, as you know, 

against entering into any explanation of the subjects 
themselves, and I myself would greatly have pre- 
ferred being able to confine myself to treatment, but I 
felt the less bound to have regard to his protest as, 
in the first place, he was the only one who uttered 
this opinion, whereas all the others immediately after 
my lecture on geometry expressed quite an opposite 
wish ; and, secondly, he only attended my lectures 
twice, or three times at the outside, and was absent 
from the very one in question. And here I may 
mention that very soon there was a marked falling 
off in the attendance generally, and some of the 
gentlemen absented themselves altogether. Once my 
audience was reduced to three, another time to only 
two. Thus even the small amount of good that my 
lectures might have done was sensibly diminished, 
and the conviction was more and more forced upon 
me that there was very little desire amongst these 
gentlemen for real instruction. This indifference was 
shown not only by the scanty attendance at the 
lectures, but also by the very small number of visitors 
to the classes. In order to make the geometry class 



SIGHT-SEERS IN DISGUISE. 1 37 

as instructive as possible, I let the first class go 
through the whole course from the beginning, and at 
suitable points in the series I propounded to the pupils 
problems which were quite new to them, and which 
they had to try to solve for themselves : my object in 
so doing was to show how children should be led 
on in this kind of work. I proceeded in a similar 
manner with the second class ; but only two visitors 
attended these lessons. Two mineralogical classes which 
I held were somewhat better attended, but as the 
visitors were quite ignorant on this subject, and had 
no opportunity of applying what they heard and 
saw, they cannot have derived much benefit from 
their visit. I had expected that the public examina- 
tions which took place at this time would have been 
diligently attended, as they would have given our 
guests an opportunity of seeing in a concentrated 
form what was accomplished at the Institute, and 
how it was done ; but only a very small number of 
them were present, and the majority profited by the 
break to make an excursion to Potsdam. Thus it 
was plain to see that the whole affair had been looked 
on merely as an occasion for visiting the capital, and 
indeed one of the gentlemen openly said as much, 
for he excused himself for not attending one of my 
lectures on the plea that he did not know when he 
might come to Berlin again, and so he must see all 
that was to be seen. 



138 THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

u Frequently in my lectures on geometry I pur- 
posely omitted pointing out the reasons of things in 
order that the gentlemen might have an opportunity of 
making remarks, or asking questions as to the 'why 
and wherefore;' but not one of them made a single 
intelligent observation. They all confined themselves 
to the most commonplace, everyday expressions of 
eulogy and admiration, and generally ended with 
the refrain, ' It would be impossible to carry out so 
much instruction in any of our schools.' With one 
single exception not one of them appeared to have 
any intention of profiting by these lessons for his 
own cultivation and improvement. For them science 
seemed to be like small coin, of which each one keeps 
only as much by him as is necessary for his daily 
wants and no more. One of the clergymen, who 
like the rest was of opinion that a great deal too 
much was taught here, and wished nothing beyond 
elementary instruction to be given in all schools, 
confounded general and elementary instruction in a 
manner which certainly indicated no jmilosophical 
head, and betrayed the most superficial culture. 
Morphology was the only subject which was at all 

discussed, and that only by the Pastor B and the 

Precentor G . 

" From all I have said it will be seen that not 
one of these clergymen and schoolmasters can have 
become thoroughly acquainted with the treatment of 



FRUSTRATED INTENTIONS. 139 

morphology and the theory oi magnitudes in our 
institution, and that not more than two at the out- 
side have gained even an external knowledge of it : 
consequently they are none of them qualified to 
pronounce more than a superficial judgment on the 
merits or demerits of the system, and it cannot be 
expected that my lectures will have any good in- 
fluence on the teaching in their schools. They will 
either be quite incapable of applying at all any small 
amount of knowledge they may have imbibed, or 
they will apply it badly ; in which case they will do 
more harm than good. I have no hesitation in 
saying, that the excellent intentions of the Ministry, 
as well as our own endeavours to carry them out, 
have been thrown away, and that in order to achieve 
the object in view an entirely different plan should 
be pursued." 

Plamann sent in the reports to the Royal Ministry, 
and he told me later that they had expressed approval 
of the frankness of my utterances. 

Immediately after this I made the acquaintance of 
the celebrated Privy Councillor Frieclrich August 
Wolf, a man who has earned himself an everlasting 
name in the history of classical literature. He sug- 
gested to me that we should undertake together the 
preparation of a map of the Grecian colonies, I 
doing the geographical part, and he the archaBological. 



140 THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

I gladly agreed to the plan, which could only lead to 
distinction and enjoyment, and we discussed it in 
detail. It was necessary that the map should be of 
considerable extension with regard to length, and I 
turned over in my mind which Avould be the most 
suitable projection. This was no easy matter to 
decide. If sufficient space was devoted to Greece 
itself to allow of all the requisite names being marked 
distinctly, the part of the map from Spain to India 
would be absurdly and unnecessarily long, consider- 
ing the few places of importance contained in that 
region. It seemed to me, therefore, best to choose 
the Mercator projection, but to treat the unrolled 
cylinder perspectively, making the degrees of longi- 
tude west and east of Greece gradually smaller ; and 
I calculated the projection according to this plan. I 
had other work on hand just then which I could not 
set aside, but I promised to begin the drawing of the 
map before Christinas. 

On the 18th of September I went to Schleiermacher, 
who was at that time dean of the theological faculty, 
and had my name entered by him on the list of theo- 
logical students. He already knew of me as a master 
at the Plamann Institute and as a geographer, and 
he invariably treated me with kindness, and even 
with distinction. 

During the Michaelmas holidays I again accom- 
panied Zernial on a visit to the Meyers. Ulrica's 



MOLOCH. 141 

banns were published in church, and the wedding was 
to take place soon. My heart ached for the poor girl, 
for, in spite of the bright hopes cherished by her 
father, I felt sure that she had a gloomy future before 
her. Meyer always credited his fellow-creatures with 
more good than they had in them, and lived in the 
belief that people always cured themselves of bad 
habits or weaknesses as soon as they became aware of 
their existence. As often as he found himself de- 
ceived, he comforted himself with the reflection that 
the individual who had imposed on him had not yet 
attained the proper height of philosophic culture, but 
would do so in time ; and he never gave any one up 
till he had become notoriously bad. The wedding 
was fixed for a time at which I could not be present. 
My forebodings were afterwards fully justified. In 
the first years of her marriage, it was discovered that 
Ulrica was chained to an insupportable despot, and 
every one commiserated the unhappy wife. I saw 
her about fifteen years later. She had grown old, 
and was so changed both mentally and physically 
that she no longer seemed the same person. It was 
a painful meeting. Marriage is too often a veri- 
table Moloch, to which poor, unsuspecting girls are 
offered up. 



CHAPTER XXI. 

[The author makes arrangements for attending theological lectures — He reviews 
his religious opinions — Public events — Birth of a daughter — Another 
visit with Zernial to the Meyers — Preaches for Meyer — Death of his 
sister, Kasimir's wife — Draws map for the third part of Niebuhr's History 
of Rome — Trip with Plamann and the masters and pupils of the Institute 
— Visit to his brother-in-law, August Heyl — His school-house haunted — 
Futile attempt to interview the ghost — Another excursion with Plamann 
and the Institute— Continues to work at map of the Greek colonies — 
Wolf's mode of proceeding makes the work arduous — His delight at the 
discovery of new names — Instructive and interesting conversations 
with him — His theory of the authorship of the Homeric poems — 
Against the use of grammars in the study of languages — His ideas as to 
teaching — Prejudice against theology and theologians — His hatred of the 
Berlin savants — High opinion of the Dutch savants — The Greek map 
finished — Wolf gets the loan of it — His illnesses and death — Final loss of 
the map — Undertakes a map of the Holy Land — Enthusiasm for the 
work — It meets with the approval of Karl Ritter — The author's dissatis- 
faction with the received treatment of the science of morphology — 
Description of a proposed new system — Changed conditions of Schropp 
and Co.'s business.] 

A T Michaelmas I changed lodgings, and removed 
-^^ to 16, Friedrichstrasse, close to Zernial's. I now 
made arrangements for attending theological lectures, 
but could not make up my mind to give up those 
on natural science, and I still remained a pupil of 
Weiss, Erman, and Turte. The lectures delivered 
by Weiss on natural philosophy delighted me beyond 
measure. I heard also, with the liveliest interest, 



SCEPTICAL DOUBTS. 143 

Schleiermacher's lectures on the introduction to 
theology and dogma, and De Wette's on Hebrew 
archa3ology — a subject which specially fascinated 
me — and his expositions of the Epistle to the He- 
brews. It was difficult to combine these addi- 
tional studies with all my other work, but it had 
to be managed. De Wette regretted that I had not 
studied Hebrew, and offered to teach me it, saying 
that he would undertake to do so in six weeks, pro- 
vided that I devoted all the energy of my mind to 
the subject, and did nothing else during the time. I 
would gladly have accepted his offer, but in my 
position it was impossible. De Wette was a short, 
thin man, of friendly and dignified demeanour, and 
his mode of lecturing was thorough, energetic, and 
full of confidence. His subtle and trenchant ad- 
dresses were most instructive and delightful to me, 
and I attended them very regularly. 

I have already described the nature and course of 
the religious education which I received both from 
my mother and at school, and I have also mentioned 
that after my confirmation I was troubled with 
religious doubts, which unsettled me very much. 
These sceptical ideas gradually gained ground, and I 
became more and more wavering in my faith. At 
length I resolved not to go on perplexing myself on 
the subject, but to give myself up unquestioningly 
to the old belief, in which I had formerly found 



144 THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

comfort. I vowed before God that I would do this, 
and I began again to partake of the holy communion 
as a means of grace and help. But it was all of no 
use. I could no longer regard the old faith as truth, 
however much I wished to do so. To stand still was 
impossible, so I began reading books on the subject. 
The writings of Bahrdt, and of many others of the 
Bationalistic school, shook more and more the fabric 
of my former creed. I could not but feel that there 
was a great deal of truth in their conclusions, and I 
found myself face to face with an entirely different 
Christianity from that which I had been taught ; the 
old dogmas fell away, and only the lofty Christian 
morality remained. How much further I might have 
gone I cannot say, but by the study of the Fichtean 
philosophy I learnt to attach a higher meaning to 
much of the Biblical teaching which I had too hastily 
discarded, and I gained a more satisfactory basis 
for my religion, although I could not understand 
Fichte throughout, It was thus with heightened in- 
terest that I now devoted myself to religious inquiry, 
and, with a better preparation than many others, 
entered on the study of theology. But I have 
never been able to resign myself to a mere ac- 
ceptance by faith to the exclusion of all the demands 
of reason. 

About this time I corrected and made many addi- 
tions to Sotzmann's map of Magdeburg in two large 



MANIFOLD WORK. 145 

sheets, and I then set to work at the map of the 
Greek colonies. 

On the 22nd of October, the four hundred years' 
jubilee of the acquisition of the Mark Brandenburg 
by the House of Hohenzollern was celebrated. There 
was a grand parade of the garrison, and 101 cannon- 
shots were fired in the Lustgarten. The volley-firing 
of the infantry in the Lustgarten, when 60,000 
musket-shots were fired off in a quarter of an hour, 
was a particularly imposing spectacle. Popular 
festivities were held on the drill-ground in the 
Thiergarten. 

On the 24th of October the Emperor Alexander 
of Russia came to Berlin, and in the evening the 
town was lighted up. On the 6th of November the 
return of the King and the marriage of the Princess 
Charlotte with the Grand Duke Nicholas of Russia 
were celebrated. There was a grand illumination, 
which I went out with my wife to see. At Christmas 
Gropius exhibited, after Schinkel's designs, his seven 
wonders of the world, and the island of St. Helena. 
These beautiful pictures, some of which were mov- 
able, exhibited as they were with Detroit's admirable 
pianoforte accompaniments, afforded me instruction 
and great enjoyment. 

We were now entering on the year 1816, which 
began amid work of the most manifold kind. The 
winter was always rather a trying time. I was 

VOL, IT. l 



146 THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

obliged to do the greater part of my drawing by 
lamplight; and in those days there were nothing 
but common oil-lamps, which gave a very imperfect 
light; so that even when the exact spot on which 
I was drawing was pretty well lighted, all my mate- 
rials lay in semi-darkness, and I was obliged to strain 
my eyes very injuriously. By this means they lost 
the power of distinguishing distant objects, and I 
was obliged to take to spectacles. 

On the 16th February my wife gave birth to a 
daughter, who was christened Ida Juliana. I had 
now three children. Edward Meyer still lived with 
us and attended the grammar-school. 

At Easter I went again with Zernial to Margraf- 
pieske, and he persuaded me to preach a sermon 
there. Students often preached during their uni- 
versity years, and I could venture on the experiment 
more confidently than others, as I was accustomed 
to public speaking in my capacity of schoolmaster. 
When I made the proposal to Meyer he agreed to it, 
and said that as he knew me and my acquirements 
and principles so thoroughly, he felt quite justified 
in throwing open his pulpit to me ; all he asked was, 
that I would let him see the sketch of my sermon, 
and he said he should come and hear it, not from 
any mistrust of my religious doctrines, but that he 
might be able to form an opinion as to my powers 
of preaching. Accordingly I set to work to compose 



A PROCLAIMER OF TRUTH. 147 

a sermon. 1 was to preach on Easter Monday. I 
read the gospel for the day, and wrote out a rough 
draft of my sermon, which I submitted to Meyer. 
He expressed his approval, and the following morning 
I prepared myself to deliver it. Divine service began, 
and I felt myself in a great state of exaltation. As 
I ascended the pulpit the sentence on the preacher's 
stool in the church at Frieclland came into my mind : 
" Wir sincl Boten an Christi Statt, denn Gott ver- 
mahnet durch uns" ( u We are messengers in Christ's 
stead, for God admonishes through us"). I felt that 
it was a grand thing to be the proclaimer of eternal 
truth, and to be speaking in the name of the Lord. 
I had taken a very condensed abstract of the draft 
of my sermon into the pulpit with me, but it was so 
well fixed in my memory that I spoke almost entirely 
without the aid of my notes. I ended in the usual 
manner, without the benediction, and Meyer was 
well satisfied with my performance. The next day 
we went to Storkow, made a little water-excursion in 
the afternoon, and then returned home. 

A great sorrow awaited me at Berlin. It had been 
impossible to induce Kasimir to mend his ways, and 
his business had gone on from bad to worse. Inces- 
sant trouble and anxiety had so undermined my 
sister's health that she was at last laid up with a 
violent attack of nervous fever, which ended in her 
death. Kasimir had literally killed her with worry. 

l 2 



148 THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

After the funeral I wrote him a bitter letter, which I 
hoped might make some impression on his conscience 
and feelings. But they were past being worked upon. 
I went on regularly with my natural science and 
theological studies, and heard now also Schleier- 
macher's expositions. I had by this time amassed a. 
not insignificant collection of books, maps, minerals, 
and physical and mathematical instruments. In 
the summer I drew the map for the third part of 
Niebuhrs History of Rome. 

About this time I went with Plamann, the rest of 
the masters, and the pupils for a trip to Neustadt- 
Eberswald. We spent one day at the Zainhammer, 
and the next day I and Kupsch, one of the masters, 
went to the village of Liepe, about seven miles and a 
half distant, where my brother-in-law, August Heyl, 
who had formerly lived at Bukow, was now school- 
master. The school-house had the reputation of 
being haunted; there had formerly been a school- 
master there who was at the same time a tailor, and 
the journeyman had fallen in love with the girl to 
whom his master was betrothed. In order to obtain 
for himself both the girl he loved and the business, the 
journeyman had murdered his master and buried him 
under the unboarded floor of an alcove near the 
school-room. The affair, however, came to light, the 
murderer was executed, and ever since that time 
people passing the house at night had declared that 



A GHOST, 149 

there was a mysterious rolling and rattling to be 
heard. My brother-in-law assured us that he heard 
this strange noise from his own room, which was only 
separated from the school-room by the passage. He 
described it as sounding like the noise of a number 
of pen-cases rolling on the table. I urged him to 
investigate the matter more closely, suggested to him 
rats, mice, &c, and many other simple ways in which 
the mystery might be cleared up ; but he would not 
hear of any natural solution of it. However, Kupsch 
and I resolved to try if we could not find out the 
cause of these alarming noises, which we were told 
came at long intervals, and were sometimes not 
heard for three or four weeks at a time. It was 
then eight days since anything had been heard. We 
examined the school-room carefully, but for all our 
searching could discover no clue to the mystery. I 
then resolved to spend the night in the alcove, and 
had my bed placed exactly over the spot where the 
murdered man was said to have been buried ; and 
Kupsch agreed to sleep in the school-room. There 
was no door to the alcove but an open arched en- 
trance. Everything was as still as possible ; a dead 
silence reigned all around. I strove hard not to 
lose courage, but the stillness was so profound that 
when a gnat flew past me I started at its buzzing. I 
now perceived that a feeling of horror was creeping 
over me. In vain did I summon all my powers of 



150 THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

reasoning to convince myself that there was nothing 
to fear ; my pulse beat rapidly, and I began to be 
alarmed at my over-heated imagination. The night 
was pitch-dark. Twelve o'clock struck, then one, and 
then I grew gradually calmer, and at last fell asleep. 
Kupsch had gone to sleep some time before. We 
neither of us heard the slightest noise, and we went 
away no wiser than we had come. But who shall 
unravel the mystery of this strange shuddering at 
phantoms one has no belief in ? Or can it be that 
in the back-ground of the soul there lurks a secret 
doubt as to the impossibility of seeing ghosts ? Cer- 
tain it is, that all are not free who mock at their 
chains. 

During the dog-days, Plamann and his wife, and 
the masters and pupils, made an excursion to Dessau 
and Worlitz. We went past Potsdam. There was 
no highway at that time between Potsdam and Wit- 
tenberg, and the road was very sandy. From Pots- 
dam we went by Belitz to the village of Buchholz, 
where we spent the night, we masters sleeping with 
the children in a hay-loft. It was a long time before 
we got to sleep, for we were all in high spirits and 
up to all sorts of pranks. Plamann had had a new 
botanical master of the name of Ruthe sent to him, 
and he was one of the party on this expedition. I 
was very glad of the opportunity of increasing my 
knowledge of plants, which till then had been very 



AN ARDUOUS TASK. 151 

limited ; and I attached myself to Ruthe during the 
journey, and botanized with him. 

From Buchholz we went the next day by a not 
very interesting road past Nickel, Grabow, Dahns- 
dorf, Borne, Jeserighiitten, Stakelitz, Hundeluft, 
Miihlstadt, and Rosslau, to Dessau, where we arrived 
very tired. The following day we went over Dessau 
and its gardens, explored Worlitz the day after, and 
then returned to Wittenberg. We did not enjoy 
the advantage of Plamann's conversation during the 
journey, for he always drove with his wife, taking 
the smallest boys alternately into the carriage, and 
even when he got out once and walked with us some 
way, he was very silent, for he was suffering greatly 
from hypochondria at the time. 

Meanwhile, I went on diligently with the map of 
the Greek colonies; but, owing to Wolfs mode of 
proceeding, my work was very arduous. He used to 
write down the names of places as he came upon 
them in his studies on separate slips of paper, half- 
burnt lighters, or any scrap that came to hand. 
Sometimes he would send me a number of names, 
sometimes only a few, or not more than one ; but 
there was never the slightest indication as to where 
or in what country the places were situated. It was 
my business to determine their position. Amongst 
the thousands of names, there were numbers of little 
places that were scarcely known, and the trouble that 



152 THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

I had in finding them out was immense, especially 
as they were written down without any attempt at 
method. Wolf's servant came sometimes two and 
three times a day with such memoranda. Very often, 
too, the same name would be written on five or six 
different bits of paper. When it happened to be an 
important one, I soon found out if it was an old 
acquaintance ; but often I would spend half a day in 
hunting out some insignificant, unknown place, and 
then discover in the end that I had already marked 
it on the map ; for it was quite impossible to keep 
all these names in my head. In this way I was com- 
pelled to waste an enormous amount of time, and few 
works have cost me so much labour as did this map. 
Wolf was delighted at every new name he thought 
he had discovered, and which he believed had been 
unknown before. He found a good many on coins. 
"How the old wiseacres will stare," he used to say, 
" when the map comes out, and they see these names ! 
Don't I hear them asking, ' Where has he got them 
all from ? ' With regard to many of them, how- 
ever, I drew his attention to the fact that Heeren had 
introduced them into his work, and this astonished 
him greatly, for he had not credited Heeren with so 
much information. There were some names which, 
in spite of all my trouble, I could not find out ; and 
these, Wolf told me, I might put in where I liked — 
he trusted to my geographical instinct, and at Halle, 



GEOGRAPHICAL INSTINCT. 153 

he said, he had seen Sprengel cut many knots very 
happily in this manner. Sprengel was at one time 
occupied in writing a description of India for an 
almanack, which was to be accompanied by a small 
map of the East Indies. In the process of drawing, 
great doubts had arisen concerning the course of 
a tributary of the Ganges. All the geographical 
authorities of Halle had been summoned together, 
but had not been able to come to an agreement ; 
when Sprengel, in the heat of discussion, seized a 
pencil, drew a line at random, and exclaimed, " That 
shall be its course ! " It was actually engraved thus, 
and later accounts of travels mentioned this arbi- 
trarily-determined course as the right one. I, how- 
ever, did not like to proceed in this way, and had 
not so great confidence in my instinct as Wolf had ; 
for I was never satisfied till I had discovered at least 
a probable position for each place. 

I was very often at Wolf's during this year, and 
had a great deal of intercourse with him ; for a con- 
siderable length of time, indeed, we met daily. He liked 
me very much, and I had great confidence in him; 
and his opinion of me (which he was rather fond of 
expressing) was so high, that he often caused me 
great embarrassment. I was frequently invited to 
meals at his house, and in fine weather we used to 
take walks in the Thiergarten. His conversation was 
always spicy and instructive, and seasoned with fine 



154 THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

Attic salt, at times not unmixed with drastic wit. I 
well remember the following conversation, which 
took place at his house. 

We had got on the subject of the idea, started by 
Wolf, that the Homeric songs were not all the pro- 
duct of one man. He declared that it was only 
prejudice which could refuse to accept this theory, 
for that the inequality of the work made itself 
strongly felt, and that no very extensive knowledge 
of Greek was required to detect this inequality in 
the language. His own daughters, he said, after a 
by no means long course of instruction, had noticed 
the difference of style in the different songs, and any 
one who read them with attention might do the 
same. But it was necessary, of course, to be ac- 
quainted with the peculiarities of the Ionian dialect. 
I asked him which grammar he considered the best. 
He replied that he did not know, and that he troubled 
himself very little about grammars, and that I should 
do well to follow his example. Whoever wished to 
learn a language thoroughly, must construct his 
grammar for himself from the writings of the best 
authors, as we did with German. To learn to 
decline and to conjugate was indeed essential, but 
that was not difficult, and could be done by each one 
for himself without even having studied Greek, as 
German words could be used for the purpose. For 
instance, he had often taken the word machen 



FUSS ABOUT GRAMMARS. 155 

(to make) and given it the Greek form ^a X etv, from 
which ftax<o, /xaxeis, />«xx«, came almost of themselves, 
and all other inflections could be obtained from 
these. There was a great deal of unnecessary fuss 
made about Latin grammars too, he said. We had 
an immense number of them, and yet there were 
scarcely more than three people in all Europe who 
could write a pure Latin, which was a pretty good 
proof of how little use these grammars were. He 
knew many people, however, who thought they were 
the chief part of a language. One of his pupils, 
who had quite a library of grammars, had complained 
to him once that it was- scarcely possible to buy all 
the fresh editions of grammars, as they followed each 
other so fast, whereupon he had advised him never to 
buy one until the last edition of it had appeared ; 
and his pupil had thanked him cordially for this 
piece of advice, which no one had ever given him 
before ! 

Our next topic was the authors who were read in 
the different classes, and the way in which they were 
treated in the grammar-school. Wolf was not at all 
satisfied on this point, and said that what had to be 
considered was not so much what authors were 
studied, as the way in which they were studied. The 
subjects might very well be the same in all the 
classes — or, at any rate, in many of them — but the 
important point was how the subjects were treated, 



156 THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

and whether they were rendered instructive. "I 
was present once," he continued, "at an assembly of 
learned men in this capital, when I expressed this 
same opinion. I was strongly opposed, and a great 
deal of discussion ensued. In order to end the dispute, 
I undertook to explain the same passage of Cornelius 
Nepos in all the classes of the grammar-school, 
augmenting the difficulty of my lesson in each suc- 
cessive class, treating my subject differently in each 
one, and at the same time insuring that every one 
of the pupils should gain an increase of knowledge, 
and, moreover, that from the standpoint of each 
separate class the explanation should be a complete 
and satisfactory one. My challenge caused consider- 
able excitement. The day and hour were fixed for 
the experiment, and a number of people came to see 
it. Goethe, who never neglected to witness ' artistic 
performances,' as he called them, of this kind, was 
also present, I began with the sixth class, went 
straight through to the first, and made good my 
promise. Goethe was full of admiration, and said 
he had not thought such a thing was possible, and 
that it had been of the greatest value to him to be 
present at these lessons. Yes, the old fellow knew 
how to appreciate that kind of thing ! " 

I had already gathered decidedly from Wolf's talk 
that he was no friend to theologians, and had there- 
fore avoided turning conversation in that direction. 



A CURIOUS TASTE. 157 

One day, however, when he was asserting that if 
the study of theology did not insure a livelihood, no 
one would pursue it, I contradicted him boldly, and 
informed him, in the excitement of discussion, that I 
was studying theology myself. 

" You are studying theology ! " he exclaimed ; " and 
for what reason, may I ask ? " 

"From interest in the subject," I replied. 

"You are the first man I have ever known who 
took any interest in theology. It's a curious taste, 
indeed. I did once upon a time, it is true, start a 
theological class, but I very quickly gave it up. I will 
tell you about it. At Halle, as everywhere else, the 
theologians used to expound the New Testament, but 
their translations were often so bad that several of 
my pupils, amongst whom there were some very good 
Greek scholars, said to me once it was much to be 
regretted that a professed philologist did not take 
the matter into his own hands and explain the New 
Testament properly. I at once determined that I 
would do it myself. But it was never my habit to 
do work superficially. The Greek of the New Testa- 
ment is a barbarous jargon, full of Hebraisms and 
Judaic turns of sentences, and without a knowledge 
of Hebrew it is very easy to confound the sense — as 
indeed has been done often enough. First of all, 
therefore, I set to work to study Hebrew. When I 
felt that I had learnt enough for my purpose, without 



158 THE SELF-MADE MAN. 



having said a word to any one beforehand, I an- 



i ^ 



y 



nounced a class for the explanation of the Greek 
text of the New Testament. This caused great alarm 
amongst the theological professors of exegesis, and 
they began to put their heads together, for they were 
all afraid that their pupils would leave them to come 
to me, and their fears were realized. I was com- 
pletely overdone with listeners, and their lecture- 
rooms were emptied. Many of them came themselves 
out of curiosity to hear me. I began in the orthodox 
manner with an appropriate introduction, and then 
went on to my explanations. Although the abominable 
Greek often disgusted me, the lesson went on pretty 
well till I came to the place where the devils are 
sent into the Gadarene swine. At this point I told 
my pupils that the pigs were quite too much for me, 
and I could not go on any further ; they must go to 
some one else for the explanation of the rest. With 
these words I closed my class, and I never again 
meddled with theology." 

Those whom Wolf hated, he hated most thoroughly, 
and this was the case with regard to almost all the 
Berlin savants of repute, especially Schleiermacher, 
whom he would not allow to be a good Greek scholar, 
and whose translation of Plato he described as a 
failure. He was not less contemptuous in h\s judg- 
ment of many others, and they mostly paid him back 
in the same coin. It is certain that he had a very 



A CONTEMPTUOUS CRITIC. 159 

exalted opinion of his own learning, — an opinion 
which bordered closely on over-estimation. 

We were sitting one day over our coffee, when a 
Berlin savant, who was known as a translator of 
classical pieces, was announced. He came in, seated 
himself, and without further delay requested Wolf 
to have the kindness to allow him to submit to him 
a Greek poem which he had written in honour of the 
bringing back of the triumphal car to the Branden- 
burg gate, and which he intended to publish in a 
periodical. It was of great importance to him, he 
said, to obtain beforehand Wolf's connoisseur judg- 
ment ; and he begged him to point out to him frankly 
any faults which he might discover in his work. 
Wolf wanted to read the poem himself, but the 
author begged to be allowed to read it to him ; and 
on Wolf's expressing a doubt as to whether he should 
be able to understand it if it were read to him, the 
other laughed, and said he could not believe that of 
such a man as Wolf. The savant declaimed his 
poem, and waited for Wolf's sentence. The latter 
was silent for a short time, and then said, " On the 
whole, I don't see anything to object to ; but the 
griffins of which you speak seem to me to have very 
little to do, and no particular connection with the 
poem." "Pardon me," was the reply, "I cannot 
agree with you. It is just these griffins that I con- 
sider are brought in with such admirable effect, and 



160 THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

exactly in the spirit of antiquity ; for no other idea 
was originally associated with them than that of the 
guardianship of treasures. I would not give them 
up at any price." " Well, then, let them be," 
answered Wolf, and turned the conversation to 
another subject. The savant soon after took leave of 
us, and when he had gone, Wolf exclaimed, "You 
see, that's the way with people. They come with the 
pretence of great humility, ask for an opinion and 
for criticism ; and when one gives it them, and does 
not admire everything without reserve, they bristle 
up, think they know better themselves, and one 
might as well have held one's tongue. It's a strange 
thing, moreover, this mania for writing Greek, which 
so few people know in the least how to do. The 
fashion has, certainly, rather decreased of late ; but 
when I was at Halle it was all the rage. Everybody 
wrote Greek, and everybody's album teemed with 
Greek verses. A young man brought his to me 
once, and asked me to write a Greek stanza in it. The 
book was already full of poetical effusions in this 
language ; but it was a Greek from which sometimes 
Latin, sometimes German cropped up, and the Greek 
itself was ruthlessly murdered. This idiotic Greek- 
Latin made me quite angry, and what do you think 

I Wrote down ? KaKarbv ovk icrTL ttlktov." 

There were very few people whom Wolf really 
esteemed. He thought, perhaps, more highly of the 



THE DEA TH-BL OW OF GENIUS. 1 6 1 

Dutch savants than of any others, and used to say 
that there were a great many more able men amongst 
them than amongst the Germans. But then, they 
only lectured during four months of the year, and the 
other eight months they could devote to study. That 
was a reasonable arrangement, and in Holland people 
knew how to appreciate a man of learning. With 
us, people were constrained to overwork themselves, 
and consequently they did not achieve half as much, 
and were obliged to give up sooner. Genius was 
always ruined by overwork. Of course, when it was 
filled with an idea, it was constrained to work enor- 
mously for the time ; but afterwards there should be 
a period of relaxation, and it must be able to let 
itself go, like a bird when it was moulting. Who- 
ever compelled genius to work over-hours, struck its 
death-blow, and showed that he had neither recog- 
nized it nor was able rightly to estimate its high 
worth. Genius was the finest blossom of humanity, 
and by it alone men had been raised from barbarism 
to civilization. It could not, therefore, be too highly 
honoured, and should everywhere be cherished with 
the greatest care. 

Amongst the French savants, Barthelemy stood 
high in Wolf's opinion. His Journey of the Younger 
Anacharsis to Greece he called a clever book, and 
Barthelemy's own Journey to Italy he lent me to 
read, and praised as a very spirited work. Spon, 

VOL. II. M 



1 62 THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

too, amongst earlier travellers, was much esteemed by 
him. With his sojourn in Berlin, and his office there, 
he was very discontented, and said he had been much 
better off at Halle. It was a town much better 
adapted to studying; everything was more concen- 
trated and solid there ; whereas in Berlin there was 
so much diffuseness and dispersedness, and the want 
of depth and earnest-minded zeal in the pursuit of 
knowledge which characterized the students had 
necessarily a chilling effect on the professors. 

As I have said, I had the good fortune to gain 
Wolf's goodwill in quite a remarkable degree, in 
spite of the difference in our characters and ages ; 
and I have to thank him for many most delightful 
and instructive hours. Towards the end of the year 
I had almost finished the Greek map, and Wolf then 
begged me to let him have it in order that he might 
revise it. He did nothing to it that year, however. 
The following year a lengthy journey carried him 
away from Berlin, and though he took the map with 
him to work at, it came back no further advanced. 
In the meantime I left Berlin and went to Potsdam. 
Wolf promised to send the map to me there as soon 
as he had completed the revision of it ; but I never 
received it. His health had begun to fail, and he 
was obliged in consequence to take several journeys ; 
the work was put off from year to year, till at last 
he died at Marseilles in 1824. What became of my 



A GREAT LOSS. 163 

drawing I do not know. It was not found amongst 
the property left at Wolf's death, and no search 
or inquiry had any result. It may be imagined 
how annoying this was to me. All my arduous 
labours had been in vain, and I did not even receive 
compensation for the time I had wasted, and which 
in my position I could ill afford to sacrifice. But 
still more than the waste of time did I lament the 
loss of a work of the scientific value of which Wolf, 
as well as I, had no mean opinion, and which, had 
it appeared as Wolf intended with a commentary 
written by himself, must have brought me, if not 
pecuniary gain, at any rate scientific distinction. To 
have had my name attached to a scientific work in 
conjunction with that of Wolf would have been an 
honour of which I might well have been proud, and 
which I could not lightly forego. Nevertheless my 
intimate acquaintance with this great philologist, 
and the memory of his affection and kindness, are 
among the dearest recollections of my life ; for Wolf 
Avas undeniably a man of great worth. 

The book-dealer Rticker was about to publish a 
work on the antiquities of the Jewish nation, and he 
asked me to prepare for it a map of the Holy Land 
accompanied by a short geographical description. 
This was very welcome work to me. I had already 
made a tolerably comprehensive study of the geo- 
graphy of Palestine, and had, moreover, read 

m 2 



164 THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

through and applied the discoveries of the tra- 
veller Seetzen, which had appeared in Von Zach's 
"Monthly Correspondence for the Advancement of 
the Knowledge of the Earth and Heavens," and 
which, owing to incorrect orientation, were unin- 
telligible to many people, and were not made use 
of at that time. By the help of these papers I was 
able to make many corrections, and the study of 
them excited in me a strong predilection for the 
geography of the Holy Land. The high interest 
which attaches to the theatre of the oldest known 
history of the human race spreads a mystic glimmer 
over the whole country Avest of the Euphrates and 
southward as far as the Arabian Gulf, and the con- 
secrated breath of religious romance deepens and 
intensifies the glow; and although I could not regard 
the events which occurred there with the superstition 
of a crusader, this region of the earth was, neverthe- 
less, before all others dear and precious to me. Was 
it not, moreover, the scene of my earliest child- 
fancies, the spot on which my first historic glance had 
fallen ? Many a time in spirit I had gazed on the 
rugged snow-clad summits of Lebanon and its dark 
forests of cedars below; from the top of Carmel I 
had looked out westward over the sea, and down 
from Tabor on the plains of Esdraelon spangled with 
flowers. I had roamed along the green banks of the 
Jordan, by the silent lake of Tiberias, on the wild 



THE SPIRIT OF THE EAST. 165 

shores of the Dead Sea ; had stood now under the 
magnificent ruins of Palmyra, now in the rocky 
convent of St. Saba, now on the heights of Sinai ; 
and the grand features of the history of those regions 
had stamped themselves with vivid reality on my soul. 
It was the radiant sun of Eastern lands which bathed 
all these objects in magic light — that sun which in 
the earliest ages drew forth so much strong feeling 
and eternal truth from the spirits and the hearts of 
men. And how many succeeding generations have 
gathered wisdom from this glorious past, have felt 
themselves spiritually elevated by the contemplation 
of it, and filled with comfort and peace amid the 
troubles of life ! 

I may therefore truly say that I set to work at the 
drawing of this map with real enthusiasm, and my 
previous studies materially facilitated the work. I 
was throughout careful not to mark down a single 
place until I had critically determined its position ; 
and I was guided as closely as possible by Seetzen's 
statements. In the accompanying description I justi- 
fied all my conclusions. This description and the 
map were published by Riicker as an appendix to the 
above-named book, but also as an independent work 
under the title, "Landeskunde von Palestina, mit einer 
Karte " ("A Geographical Description of Palestine, 
with a Map"). My work met with great approval, 
and the celebrated geographer Karl Ritter long 



1 66 THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

recommended it as the best of the kind, and used it 
at his lectures until it was finally superseded by 
other works grounded on the numerous discoveries 
made in the meantime by later explorers and scien- 
tific men, such as Berghaus, Grimm, and Kiepert. It 
is, however, the fate of all scientific works to have 
only a temporary value. 

The method which I had hitherto pursued in 
working out and teaching morphology, did not at all 
satisfy me. I had endeavoured to make it more 
philosophical and coherent by introducing the doc- 
trine of combinations, but it still seemed to me much 
too arbitrary. Others had tried to combine this 
subject with drawing, but had not gone beyond 
forms of symmetrical shape and the arbitrary filling 
in of them, so that there was no question at all of 
systematic shaping and construction, or of deter- 
minate order of succession. I could not be satisfied 
with this manner of treating morphology, but my 
own method also no longer pleased me. I had 
arrived gradually at the conviction that morphology 
must have a much wider scope, if it was really to be 
what its name implied, and only by the method 
which was floating before my mind did it seem to 
me that it could receive scientific coherence and 
systematic development in progressive series, and 
lead to any result. Let me be permitted to give 
here a slight sketch of my ideas on the subject. 



A NE W S YS TEM OF MORPHOL OGY. 1 67 

Crystallography is in its whole nature nothing 
more than the morphology of inorganic bodies. The 
laws according to which the latter develop them- 
selves are given in the theory of crystallization, and 
are established both physically and mathematically. 
Crystallography must form the conclusion of the 
morphology of inorganic bodies — i.e., of bodies 
bounded by straight lines ; but this subject must 
necessarily be preceded by another one, which has 
hitherto not been thought about. Just as stereo- 
metry is preceded by planimetry, so crystallography 
must be preceded by plane-morphology, which leads 
up to crystallography and operates according to 
exactly the same laws; the only difference between 
the two subjects is that plane-morphology relates to 
figures of two dimensions, crystallography to figures 
of three dimensions. The fertility of this idea will at 
once be apparent to any one who has occupied him- 
self with crystallography. 

Here, too, several systems of figures develop 
themselves. I will take as an example the regular 
quadrilateral, with two equal dimensions cutting 
each other at right angles. With the same axes we 
obtain at once two squares related to each other in 
the same way as cube and octohedron, in which each 
figure has its angles where the sides of the other 
figures are, and whose axes are to one another as 2 
to 1 . We get these two figures when we cut cube 



168 THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

and octohedron by a plane containing two axes. If 
the onter square is contracted so as to cut off the 
corners of the inner one, we get octagons of very 
various kinds, but with constant angles of 1^ right 
angle, as in the solid figure of the intermediate 
crystal between cube and octohedron, which being 
cut by a plane containing two axes gives just this 
octagon. If then we go on to draw lines from the 
corners of the square to the opposite ends of the axes, 
we produce other octagons, and by prolonging par- 
ticular sides and leaving out the adjacent ones, we 
obtain, by a completely systematic process, a very 
large mass of figures, ahvays with constant angles, 
but with variable sides. Of special importance, how- 
ever, are the twin forms, both complete and halved. 
Now, the system of figures with two unequal axes 
can be worked out in precisely the same way. The 
process remains the same, the development of figures 
is similar ; but the figures themselves are more various, 
especially in the case of the twin forms and those 
with striped surfaces, where, if we connect together 
the halves of both figures according to the laws of 
the twin formations, or else imagine the one half to 
be formed according to the laws of the one and the 
other half according to the laws of the opposite one, 
we get leaf-like shapes. By a completely regular 
connection of these forms, starting always from the 
same centre, we arrive at very symmetrical and 



A NEW SYSTEM OF MORPHOLOGY. 169 

wonderfully various figures, many of which resemble 
flowers, and in which the centre always occupies the 
position of the style and the stamen. 

We can still form other series with three axes in a 
plane cutting one another in one point at equal 
angles, and which are either all three equal, or else 
two equal and one unequal, or three unequal axes. 
They all give hexagons as the fundamental figures, 
but have also all of them inverse figures such that 
the angles of the one lie where the sides of the other 
are. Now, if these figures are proceeded with in the 
same, way as the first ones, we get by a completely 
systematic process an enormous and indescribable 
variety of figures, each one of which can be repre- 
sented by a more or less complex crystallographic 
formula. 

All these figures are bounded by straight lines in 
accordance with the character of inorganic forma- 
tions, in which only physical forces work. For such 
a force, as it only gives a momentary impulse to 
the atoms, can only produce a rectilinear movement, 
and the rigid bodies must always present figures 
bounded by straight lines. But the character of life 
is continuous change, and wherever we find life, as in 
organic bodies, we find also continuous modification, 
and consequently also continuous alteration of the 
straight lines, which thus become curved ; and thus 
it is that organic bodies are always bounded by 



170 THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

irregular lines. This continuous alteration is pro- 
duced by disturbing forces, but the rectilinear form 
constitutes the original basis of all bodies ; this is the 
plan according to Avhich nature works. As, how- 
ever, these disturbing forces do not easily exceed a 
certain magnitude, but are confined in fixed limits, 
they cannot entirely change the character of the 
original rectilinear body. Thus it is that the leaves 
of a book, let us say, though they are all to a certain 
extent different the one from the other, are never so 
completely different as to cease to be leaves of books 
at all, and become, for instance, leaves of a lime- 
tree. There must, then, be a necessity at work which 
compels the leaf of a book to keep its changes within 
certain limits, and this necessity is no other than the 
original rectilinear form of the leaf, which never 
becomes quite obliterated. Inorganic bodies are, as 
a rule, fully developed at the instant of their pro- 
duction ; but not so organic bodies. The idea of 
continuous disturbance involves that of time, without 
which no continuity is conceivable. At the beginning 
of the development of a body, the disturbing forces 
work with gradually increasing force until they reach 
their maximum, when they gradually decrease till 
they come down to zero, and then the body has 
reached its end in space, and often, too, in time. If, 
now, we apply the changes worked by these dis- 
turbing forces to the above rectilinear figures, we 



A NEW SYSTEM OF MORPHOLOGY. 171 

obtain leaf and flower forms of the most manifold 
kind, and the conviction is forced npon ns that it 
must be possible, in the manner indicated and with 
the help of the third dimension, to arrive at the com- 
plete construction, the external construction at least, of 
the whole plant ; though no doubt the road to such 
an end is a very long one. 

These ideas for the construction of a new system of 
morphology, which I have only slightly indicated 
here, and which without drawings it is scarcely 
possible to make clear, I explained at a conference of 
schoolmasters at the Plamann Institute, and showed 
how completely the rudiments of the subject might 
be developed according to the Pestalozzian theory, 
and formed into series, the sequence of which the 
pupils would be able to find out for themselves ; and 
I also pointed out what an admirable basis crystallo- 
graphy gained by this means, and how by grafting 
morphology on to a positive science all that. was 
vague and undefined was got rid of. As I had 
already formerly cut and rasped crystals out of 
steatite, for the Institute, and also executed a 
number of drawings according to this method, it was 
possible for me to explain it to them in a more 
detailed manner. All my colleagues were delighted 
with it. Plamann, though he had no knowledge 
whatever of crystallography, had sufficient scientific 
cultivation to understand me in the main, and was 



i;2 THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

quite enchanted with my system. He said that it 
brought out Pestalozzi's idea in a manner that he had 
scarcely formed any conception of, and that I must 
certainly work it out thoroughly. I drew his atten- 
tion to the fact that a great many illustrations would 
be required — would be indeed the most important 
part of the work — and that the engraving of these 
would be so expensive as very possibly to ruin the 
undertaking. To this, however, he answered that it 
was not necessary at present to think of publishing ; 
the chief thing was to work out the theory and pre- 
pare the drawings, and the cost of this he undertook 
to defray out of his private purse. He wanted to 
bind me down to beginning the work at the com- 
mencement of the new year, as I had told him that it 
would take several years to complete it. I could not, 
however, promise to begin so soon, for I had many 
other things on hand, and did not know when I 
should have leisure to devote to this task. I said I 
must let the matter lie by for the present, and was 
quite uncertain as to when I should have time to take 
it up again. 

The time has never yet come, and I should there- 
fore have passed the matter over in silence, did I not 
feel that the idea has not been lost. The day will 
come, quite irrespective perhaps of any action on my 
part, when it will either be taken up where I left it 
or proceed independently from some other head ; for 



A GENEROUS MERCHANT. 173 

it lies in the course of the development of scientific 
knowledge, and cannot be left out. 

In the meanwhile affairs had very much changed 
in the house of Schropp & Co. The war had come 
to an end ; peace had begun, and might be expected 
to last a long time, and the activity of Schropp's 
business had consequently greatly diminished. More- 
over, he had grown old, and had lost all zest for new 
undertakings ; his former partner, Gall, had left him 
and set up an independent business, and Hoffmann's 
services were to terminate at Michaelmas, 1817. 
Schropp, therefore, informed me that he should con- 
tent himself with finishing what was already begun, 
and should not embark on anything new. I could 
not but regret this deeply, for Schropp was a man of 
honour in the full sense of the word — a merchant of 
the old generous type. He made great profits him- 
self, but he allowed others to do so also ; he 
remunerated handsomely, and was above all petty 
niggardliness. The confidence he had placed in me 
had tided me over a difficult period of my life, and 
thanks to it I was enabled to reach the goal of my 
ambition. I shall remember him with gratitude to 
the day of my death. 



CHAPTER XXII. 

[The author again visits the Meyers — Commissioned by the Government to 
execute postal map of Prussia and map of Brazil — Visit to Von Turk, Coun- 
cillor of Education at Potsdam — He offers the author the appointment of 
Director of the Seminary for Schoolmasters at Potsdam — Advantages of 
the post — The offer accepted- — Notice given to Plamann — His angry 
reception of it — Accuses the author of ingratitude and treachery — Answer 
to these charges — Keflections on the future of Plamann's Institute, and 
of the Pestalozzian system — Plamann's good qualities — His services to 
the cause of education — Final nomination of the author by the Royal 
Ministry to the new office — Honourable certificates from the university — 
Rejoices over his promotion for the sake of his good wife — Removal to 
Potsdam — Close of an important period of his life.] 

"OXE now entered on the year 1817. The first 
* " quarter of it went by in strenuous work, 
and without any remarkable occurrences. At Easter, 
Zernial and I paid our usual visit to Meyer, and I 
preached again at Margrafpieske. Meyer, however, had 
been removed to Storkow, where his family had just 
established themselves, and there we joined them on 
Easter Monday. As there was not room enough in the 
house at Storkow for us to be received into it, Meyer 
found us a lodging elsewhere. By this arrangement 
we missed a great deal of the enjoyment of family 
life, and we returned to Berlin the following day 
much less satisfied with our visit than we had been 
on former occasions. It seemed to us, moreover, 



MAP- WORK. 175 

that Meyer had not bettered himself by the 
exchange. 

After my return I received a request from the 
Royal Post-office authorities to prepare a great postal 
map of the Prussian state, on a scale which would 
allow of all the villages on the post-roads being 
marked, and they promised to supply me with all the 
materials at their disposal. The places were to be 
marked with such accuracy that the distances from one 
to another could be determined exactly. On the 1st of 
April the contract was signed. I received, especially 
from the survey of the Rhine-land, the levels of a 
large number of places, and I at once set to work to 
calculate their latitudes and longitudes, according 
to an exact formula given in Von Zach's Monthly 
Correspondence, having regard to the flattening of 
the earth at the poles. This was a great labour. 
When I had finished my calculations I began the first 
third of the map, but owing to much preliminary 
work that had to be done, and many other things I 
had on hand at the same time, it did not advance 
very rapidly. 

This same year I drew, also by commission from the 
Royal Calendar Deputation, . a small map of Brazil 
for the Berlin Historical Calendar for 1818. In 
the description which was to accompany my map 
one of the pages had to be reprinted. The writer 
had said that the aborigines of Brazil contested 



176 THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

every square foot of the land with the Portuguese, 
rightly feeling that the country belonged to them 
and not to the intruders. The censor struck out 
this passage, for the Peace of Paris had guaranteed to 
Portugal the possession of Brazil, and it could not 
therefore be considered right feeling on the part of 
the aborigines to think that the country belonged to 
them ! 

At Whitsuntide I and my wife and children, in 
company with Ruthe and his wife, and Salomon, 
another of the masters, paid a visit to my brother-in- 
law at Liepe, whence we went on to Oderberg and 
Freiswald. 

In the summer I received a letter from Herr von 
Tiirk, Councillor of Education at Potsdam, inviting 
me to go and see him there and inspect his collection 
of minerals. He was already known to me as a 
writer on the Pestalozzian system; I knew that he 
had visited Pestalozzi in Switzerland, and had after- 
wards resided some time at Vevay, whence he had 
gone to Frankfort-on-the-Oder as Councillor of Edu- 
cation, and that for the last half-year he had been 
living at Potsdam in the same capacity. I felt that his 
acquaintance would be advantageous to me in more 
than one respect, and so one Saturday forenoon I set 
oif to go on foot to Potsdam ; there was no other 
way of performing the journey at that time except 
by posting. 



A PLEASANT VISIT. 177 

Herr von Turk lived in a villa standing in a 
beautiful garden outside the Berlin gate. He received 
me in a very friendly manner, and we soon found 
ourselves talking together like old acquaintances. 
He insisted on my giving him a full description of 
the Plamann Institute, and I found that he knew 
Plamann very well. We discussed various educational 
subjects, walking about the garden all the time, for 
he always preferred to converse when walking. His 
collection of minerals interested me very much. He 
had a great number of very good Swiss specimens, 
but his knowledge of the subject was only that of an 
ordinary amateur, without scientific depth, and I felt 
that I was far superior to him on this point. I spent 
the night at his house, and we had a long conversation 
again the following morning. He presented me with 
a quantity of Swiss minerals, which pleased me very 
much, as I had very few of these in my own collection ; 
he made me promise to come and see him again in a 
few weeks, and I returned to Berlin in the afternoon 
well satisfied with my visit. 

At the end of a fortnight I repeated it, and was 
received with as much friendliness as the first time. 
We again discussed mineralogy and pedagogy, talked 
about Herr von Turk's sojourn in Switzerland, his 
visit to Pestalozzi, and his experiences there. Finally 
he told me that the seminary for schoolmasters at 
Berlin had been dissolved, and that he had been 

VOL. II. N 



178 THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

commissioned to re-establish it at Potsdam on a wider 
basis to suit the requirements of the times. The 
matter had already progressed so far that the insti- 
tution might be opened in the autumn. All the 
masters were chosen, and the only thing that remained 
to be done was to find an energetic director who 
should at the same time be head-master. He had 
already, he said, taken a great deal of trouble with 
regard to this point, but had as yet found no one 
against whom there was not some important objection. 
Superintendent Meyer, whom he had learnt to know 
and esteem at the time of the meeting of school- 
masters at Frankfort, had then drawn his attention 
to me, and had recommended me as thoroughly 
competent for the post. It was on this account that 
he had sought to make my acquaintance. He had 
found Meyer's opinion of me entirely just, and 
nothing, he said, would give him greater pleasure 
than that I should accept this appointment, which 
he now officially offered me. It was true, he added, 
that it was at present only worth 800 thalers a 
year besides house and fuel, but there was every 
hope of the income increasing with time. It was 
also possible that, in a few years, the seminary might 
be removed to Havelberg, but that pecuniarily I 
should not be any worse off in such a case. 

This offer took me very much by surprise, for I had 
not had the faintest expectation of anything of the 



A CONGENIAL POST. 179 

kind. The post, however, was an honourable one, 
— one which agreed with my inclinations, opened out 
to me a sphere of activity in which I might do useful 
work, and which, at the same time, would place me 
in a position of security ; and this last consideration 
was of double importance to me now that Schropp's 
business was dissolved. Compared with the earnings 
I had been making during the last few years I should, 
it is true, not be bettering myself; but then, on the 
other hand, there would be no fear of a decrease of 
income, which, in my present position, was only too 
probable. From the Plamann Institute I had only 
received fifteen thalers per month, and how long this 
institution might continue to exist was uncertain ; on 
no side therefore was I secure, and if things came to 
the worst my only resource would be to try for a 
clerical appointment, and it might be a long time 
before I got one ! Here, however, I was offered a 
post which was much more congenial to me, and I 
felt that I owed it to myself and my family not to 
reject it. I thanked Herr von Turk for having thus 
honoured me with his confidence, and assured him 
that if I was chosen by the Royal Council, and their 
choice approved by the Ministry, I should accept the 
office with pleasure, and endeavour to the best of my 
ability to fulfil the expectations placed in me. He 
then said he should wish me to come again in a short 
time to Potsdam in order that he might introduce me 

n2 



180 THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

to the President of the Council and some of the 
Councillors, who would naturally wish to know some- 
thing of me personally before coming to any decision ; 
but he said he would write to me. 

I consulted him as to whether I ought not to com- 
municate the matter to Plamann. He asked me what 
length of notice I was bound to give, to which I 
answered that there had been no agreement between 
us, but that decency seemed to me to require that I 
should give him at least a quarter's notice. In that 
case, he said, it would be time enough if I spoke to 
him at Michaelmas, for I should not be required to 
enter on my new duties before the beginning of the 
new year. By Michaelmas my election might be 
secure, and until it was it would be rash to mention 
the matter, for he knew that Plamann would be very 
sorry to lose me, and it was quite possible that he 
would take steps to hinder my election, or at any rate 
make it difficult. There were sure to be numbers of 
other candidates, and one or other of them might be 
pushed on by Plamann, and thus the plan would be 
frustrated. I should therefore do well, he said, and 
should certainly not be acting dishonourably, if I did 
not say anything to Plamann until Michaelmas. I 
resolved to follow this advice and returned home. 

My wife was delighted when I told her the news ; 
we kept it quite to ourselves, however, for some time. 
In a few weeks I received the expected summons 



GOOD PROSPECTS. 1S1 

from Herr von Turk, went again to Potsdam, and was 
introduced to the Council ; and shortly after I heard 
that I had been chosen, and proposed to the Royal 
Ministry for their approval. Herr von Turk advised 
me to call on the Councillor of State Silvern, who 
attended to the educational department in the Ministry 
of Religion. He received me in a friendly manner, 
and assured me that he already knew me well by name. 
This did not surprise me, for several members of the 
Ministry of Religion sent their sons to Plamann's 
Institute, — amongst others, the excellent Nicolovius, — 
and I had thus become known to many of them. I 
told Silvern of my hopes and prospects, and that if I 
was fortunate enough to be elected I should have 
great pleasure in entering on such a fine sphere of 
industry, and ended by requesting him to interest 
himself on my behalf. He replied, " If you are 
prepared to give yourself up to the work with your 
whole soul, I firmly believe that we have found in 
you the right man." I assured him that such was the 
case, and asked if it would be necessary for me to 
undergo an examination; to which he answered, "Your 
work up to the present time at Plamann's is, to my 
mind, a far better test of your fitness than any exami- 
nation would be, and makes any such trial unneces- 
sary ; but I must take the opinion of the Board. You 
will hear from me further on the subject." 

On the 25th of September, without having received 



i82 THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

any further communication, I was informed that I 
had been elected by the Royal Ministry, and on the 
last day of the month I went to Plamann and in- 
formed him that at the end of the year I must leave 
his institution to enter on my new duties. He took 
the information very ill, blustered at me, and was 
quite rude. All my attempts to pacify him only 
poured oil on the fire. He called me an ungrateful 
wretch, said I had been in league with his enemy, 
and that, considering the relations in which I stood 
to him, the least I could have done would have 
been to communicate the matter to him at once and 
ask his advice. Whatever salary I should receive 
at Potsdam he would gladly have paid me, he said ; 
and, moreover, he had intended to. make me his 
partner, and to carry on the institution in conjunc- 
tion with me. And for all this I had rewarded him 
with ingratitude so base that he could not find words 
bad enough to describe it. He would have nothing 
further to do with me. Here was my money, and I 
might go at once, for he did not wish me to remain 
another hour in his house. I tried to soothe him 
and make him look at the matter reasonably ; but all 
in vain : he would not let me speak a word ; and 
finally he bounced into the next room and shut the 
door in my face. - 

It was very painful to me to part in such a 
manner from an institution to which for four years 



GROUNDLESS ACCUSATIONS. 183 

long I had devoted my best energies ; but there was 
no help for it. Plamann described me to all his 
masters as an ungrateful man, who had treated him 
cruelly, had thwarted all his plans, and leagued 
himself with his enemy ; and many of them, who 
ought to have known me better, gave me the cold 
shoulder. 

Let us try and see if my ingratitude was indeed 
so very black. I received from Plamann monthly 
the sum of fifteen thalers, reckoning at a quarter of a 
thaler per hour, and so much and no more I was 
paid from the beginning of my term of service up to 
the last moment. Hitherto there had been no ques- 
tion of an increase of salary. Was this a remunera- 
tion so handsome as to call forth deep gratitude? 
For the working out of my system of morphology 
he had paid me fifty thalers in advance, and this I 
had wished to give back to him. He had rejected my 
offer with angry disdain; and I had not been able 
to prevail on him to take back the money. Did I 
owe him grateful thanks for this? It was true 
that as a master in his institution I had attained 
to a certain amount of fame, but all that I had 
to thank him for was my appointment, for beyond 
this I had gained nothing from him ; and if I did 
owe anything to the Institute, he knew better 
than any one else that the Institute owed far 
more to me. Was not the obligation of gratitude 



1 84 THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

then rather on the opposite side ? Why was it to be 
exacted from me alone ? Had I indeed received so 
much more than I had given ? I venture to doubt 
it. For if Plamann was now ready to give me the 
same salary that I should receive at Potsdam, was 
not this a proof that my services were worth six 
times as much as I had been paid for them during 
the last four years ? Was this a cause for gratitude ? 
What, however, in his opinion was so unpardonable 
was the fact that I had not told him at once of my 
prospects, and asked his advice. This I had pur- 
posely abstained from doing, because I knew very 
well how he would have advised me. But when a 
man does not want my advice he is not necessarily 
ungrateful. In whichever light I looked at the 
matter I could not discover any ingratitude on my 
part. 

Then " I had been in league with his enemy." It 
turned out that he considered Herr von Turk as 
such ; but with great injustice. Herr von Turk 
certainly did not like him, but he was no enemy 
to him. This was only one of the hypochondriacal 
fancies of the man, who moreover liked nobody 
himself ; indeed the masters often complained of his 
moroseness. With regard to his statement that he 
had meant to take me into partnership with him, I 
can only say that he had never given me the slightest 
hint of any such intention, or in any way led me to 



185 

suspect it. He had never shown himself in the 
least degree communicative or confidential towards 
me, had never said a word more than was necessary, 
and had always been reserved in the extreme. Why 
then should I suddenly have taken the confidential 
step of asking his advice, or how could I have 
imagined that he thought of making me his partner ? 
Moreover it never seemed to have occurred to him 
that I might not have jumped at the proposal, or 
that I might have had other plans of my own. 
Plamann was certainly not a pleasant person to 
have dealings with. He was almost always peevish 
and bitter, and at the same time very vacillating, for 
he could seldom make up his mind clearly as to 
what he wanted. Whenever a fresh master came from 
Switzerland, which was often the case, and found 
fault with any of the regulations or exercises, however 
much Plamann might have approved of them before, 
they were instantly condemned. The new-comers were 
always right, and the former masters had to give 
way to them. Under these circumstances could I 
have counted on a partnership of any duration, and 
would the arrangement have been a pleasant one ? 

Besides which I had no belief in the Institute last- 
ing. The history of education shows that all methods 
which have a distinct speciality are mere matters 
of fashion. I had already seen the methods and 
schools of Basedow, Salis Marschlins, Von Rochow, 



1 86 THE SELF-MADE MAN.. 

Salzmann, Olivier, and others pass by and disappear, 
and I felt no doubt but that the Pestalozzian method, 
notwithstanding its great ivorth, must ere long share 
the same fate. Let there be only a change in the 
members of the Ministry of Education, or in the 
opinions entertained as to what was desirable for the 
people (opinions which are every bit as fluctuating 
as are those on systems of education), and the support 
which the Institute had hitherto enjoyed would be 
withdrawn from it ; and as the ideas of men are for 
ever changing, and old ones giving place to new, 
whatever depends on their opinion, however noble 
and beautiful it may be, must of necessity be only 
temporary. But there was another cause which I 
felt must work towards the dissolution of Plarnann's 
school. Notwithstanding the excellence of the in- 
struction to be obtained there, it was still only ele- 
mentary instruction. Nearly all the pupils wished 
afterwards for a higher and wider cultivation, which 
they could only get in other schools — at that time 
only in the grammar-schools. Consequently the 
education of Plarnann's pupils came generally to a 
sudden and premature end, and the fruits of the 
teaching they had received were in most cases alto- 
gether lost. Had they been able in the Institute to 
continue on the path on which they had started towards 
a higher cultivation, and received a university prepara- 
tion, the Institute might have become self-supporting 



A FULFILLED PROPHECY. 187 

and permanent. But to place itself on such a footing 
was beyond the strength of a private institution, and 
the State would all the less take the matter into its 
own hands as the Pestalozzian method left languages 
almost entirely out of its account. Plamann, who 
imparted instruction in religion and the German 
language to the first class, had pondered over the 
question for many years, and was always on the point 
of solving it, but had never yet done so. For this 
same reason the grammar-schools were not able to 
adopt the system, and when Plamann's pupils went to 
a grammar-school they did not as a rule distinguish 
themselves. An opposition to the method had at one 
time been set on foot by Snethlage, but his objections 
had rested chiefly on ignorance. In any case, how- 
ever, the seeds sown and fostered at Plamann's could 
not ripen at the grammar-schools, and this fact was a 
great hindrance to the prosperity of the Institute 
and could not fail in the end to lead to its downfall. 

And indeed I had not to wait long to see my 
prophecy fulfilled. In 1834 there was a change in 
the opinions of the Ministry. Their support was 
withdrawn from the Institute, and soon afterwards 
Plamann was obliged to give it up altogether and 
retire on a State pension. I could not but rejoice in 
having acted as I did, for from the manner in which 
he had received my notice I am convinced that he 
would have done everything in his power to hinder 



188 THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

my election had he known of my prospects sooner. 
Herr von Turk had judged him quite rightly. 

Before taking a final leave of Plamann and his 
school I must be permitted to make a few more 
remarks on the subject, for as I have been compelled 
to speak of the man's weaknesses I am doubly anxious 
to record all that was estimable in him ; and this 
was not a little. In the first place, I must say that 
his whole heart was in his institution, which he 
directed with zealous love. He was an admirable dis- 
ciplinarian and knew how to command respect, and a 
fine spirit of order and subordination reigned in con- 
sequence throughout the establishment, as also an 
active desire for advancement in learning. He showed 
always great discernment in the selection of his 
masters, and though fortune often favoured him in 
this matter, it was generally his choice which decided 
the question. He grudged no outlay on materials 
for instruction when once he had satisfied himself of 
their utility. He had a remarkable power of grasping 
the individuality of his pupils, and the descriptions 
of character which he wrote out in the reports sent 
to the parents were masterly. This indeed was his 
strong point. His mode of imparting instruction was 
not attractive ; it had the fault of dryness, and was 
often the very opposite of clear, especially when he 
was teaching German. He had the reputation of 
being a scientific man, and occupied himself a good 



PESTALOZZPS METHOD. 189 

deal with philosophy — though whether with any 
useful result I will not venture to decide. His few 
literary publications are not of importance. 

The excellent services rendered by this school are un- 
deniable, and it is much to be regretted that it should 
have been broken up before the method pursued in 
it had had time to perfect itself. It is true that with 
regard to mathematics and all the sciences connected 
with them the Pestalozzian method is recognized as 
the best, not only for the people, but for higher 
instruction also ; and this is certainly a great point 
gained, and I gladly acknowledge it ; but if it be 
maintained that all that is true and imperishable in 
the system of Pestalozzi has already for a long while 
been the common property of the people, I at once 
and emphatically deny the assertion, and am not 
afraid to say what Otto Schulz said before me, and 
gave so great offence in saying : " The people do not 
know him ! " They do not know him, and no one 
ever can know him who has not taught for many 
years in his mind and spirit, and appropriated his 
system with penetration and enthusiasm. What an 
entirely different set of mathematical school-books we 
should possess if we had persevered in the road which 
he and his followers pointed out, and had not stopped 
short at the first principles ! How far this method 
can lead if followed out persistently and zealously 
my friend Professor Johann Steiner, member of 



190 THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

the Academy of Sciences at Berlin, lias shown 
practically by his own example. An immediate pupil 
of Pestalozzi, he pressed on straight-forwards in his 
footsteps, and thus accomplished those astounding 
results. In him is exemplified to what height of 
learning this method may lead ; but the goal which 
Steiner reached is widely distant from the point 
where Joseph Schmidt stops, and by far the greater 
part of the road still lies in darkness. Can it then 
with truth be said that all that is lasting and valuable 
in Pestalozzi's method has long been educational 
property while the most important of it is still com- 
pletely unknown ? As has before been said, the 
method was given up too soon ; the half-opened buds 
were taken for full-grown fruit. It was a grievous 
mistake, and one which cannot easily be atoned. for, 
for the favourable moment has gone by for ever. 

On the 2nd of October I received from the admin- 
istrators at Potsdam the official announcement that 
the Ministry had ratified their choice ; on the 26th of 
October my appointment was confirmed by the Royal 
Council ; and on the 2nd of November I was finally 
nominated by the Royal Ministry "Head-master of 
the Potsdam Seminary." 

The next thing w T as to procure the requisite certi- 
ficates from the University. These were drawn up 
by the 7th of November, and were in every way 
honourable and satisfactory. I had studied three 



A GOOD WIFE. 191 

full years, not counting the year preceding my 
matriculation, during which I had attended Weiss' 
and Turte's classes. I thanked God that under such 
difficult circumstances, with a wife and family to 
maintain, and dependent all the time for subsistence 
on the work of my own hands and head, it had been 
possible for me to accomplish so much. No one was 
more astonished than my father in-law at this great 
and sudden change in my affairs. He had given his 
daughter to a poor engraver, and now all at once 
she was to become the wife of a director of a semi- 
nary ! He could not get over it at all. I too rejoiced 
specially at my promotion for my good wife's sake. 
She had gone through many difficult times with me, 
and had been obliged to work very hard. Not till quite 
latterly had I been able to keep a maid-servant ; for a 
long time we had only had a charwoman for a few 
hours in the day, and the entire charge of the house- 
hold, as well as of the children and Edward Meyer, 
had fallen to my wife. It was chiefly owing to her 
good management and economy, and to her modest, 
unpretentious, and contented disposition, that I had 
been able to work my way up. Had I had the mis- 
fortune to possess a pleasure-seeking wife it would 
have been the ruin of me. I could not have resisted 
her, for my own nature strongly inclined to pleasure. 
I know too well what power a woman might have 
had over me in that way. But Hannchen never 



192 THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

abused her influence ; she never tempted me away 
from my work and my studies ; and by her careful 
and judicious expenditure of my small income she 
not only managed to meet all the expenses of house- 
keeping, but also enabled me to amass a considerable 
collection of books, minerals, physical and mathe- 
matical instruments, and even paintings and copper- 
prints. Such purchases had indeed become a 
necessary of my existence ; and scarcely anywhere 
was I so happy as at an antiquary's. 

Edward Meyer remained at Berlin, and went to 
live at Zernial's. I took his younger brother Franz 
in his place, and he became a member of my house- 
hold in the Seminary. The greater part of my goods 
I sent by boat to Potsdam, and for the few things 
which it was desirable to keep with us I hired a cart. 
For myself and my family I had engaged a carriage ; 
and on the 15th of November, a dreary day, we drove 
away from Berlin, our hearts full of various emotions. 

Thus closed another and most important period of 
my life. How different had the events of this last 
section been from those of preceding ones ! It had 
seemed an altogether new kind of existence, and now 
another change was about to take place — a change 
of vicinity, a change of official position, a change 
of duties. Under such constantly shifting cir- 
cumstances, it is a difficult matter to preserve the 
thread of one's existence unbroken. Before all things 



THE FUTURE AND THE PAST. 193 

it is essential to keep a zealous watchfulness over 
one's inner life, for the outward world and outward 
circumstances exercise a strong influence over us ; 
and only by rigid control of the inner man can we 
hope to preserve unimpaired the unity of our nature. 
This was what I strove to do ; for my life was not to 
begin afresh, but the future was to be a continua- 
tion of the past, and where possible an improvement 
on it. 



VOL. II. 



CHAPTEE XXIII. 

[The author arrives at Potsdam, and enters on his new duties — The other 
masters described — Co-operation of Von Turk — Commission to draw 
map of the Rhine province — Joins a musical society in Potsdam — 
Attendance of the pupils of the seminary at its meetings — Objections 
thereto by narrow-minded people — Close acquaintanceship formed with 
Wessely, the director — Sketch of his life and character — Inefficient mode 
of transacting business at the council — Private musical society formed — 
Lessons in mathematics to two of the mastars — First public examination 
of the seminary — School inspection tour in company with Yon Turk — The 
Burgher-school in Potsdam attached to the seminary for the practical use 
of the pupils — Gratuity to the author from the Government in acknow- 
ledgment of his services.] 

fXN the 15th of November, 1817, I arrived at Pots- 
^ dam with my family and took possession of my 
apartments in the seminary building, which was 
situated by the canal, the second house from the 
corner of the Berlinstrasse, and just opposite the 
theatre. The Real-school now stands on this site. 
The first few days were occupied in getting my 
things in order, then there were visits to be paid and 
received, and only after I was to some extent settled 
could I give my attention to the affairs of the semi- 
nary, which was opened as early as October, although 
full instruction could not be commenced so soon. 
The first master was, as has been said, myself. The 



AN EGOTIST. 195 . 

second was the candidate of theology Runge, for- 
merly tutor in the family of the chief president Von 
Bassewitz. He had entertained hopes of obtaining 
the head-mastership ; I was therefore no very wel- 
come person to him — more especially as he was 
betrothed to the daughter of the Burgomaster, and 
his marriage had now to be put off indefinitely. He 
had the good sense, however, not to let me perceive 
his annoyance, and our relations, though they never 
became intimate, were friendly and pleasant. To him 
I assigned the instruction in religion, German, and 
history. The third master, Schartlich, had formerly 
been a master in the Military Orphan Asylum at 
Annaburg. Herr von .Turk had become acquainted 
with him there, and had summoned him to Pots- 
dam. Schartlich was a pupil of Dinter's, and 
consequently an admirable catechist ; he had also 
occupied himself with music, and he wrote a good 
Saxon hand. I intrusted him with the teaching of 
singing, organ-playing, and thorough-bass, and also 
writing and arithmetic. His manners were insinu- 
ating in the extreme, but he was a tremendous 
egotist, and full of haughty caprice and ill-temper 
— a man with whom at times one got on very well, 
and at others equally badly. Loftier, the fourth 
master, had also formerly held a post in the Military 
Orphan Asylum at Annaburg and been removed 
thence to Potsdam by Herr von Turk. He was only 

o 2 



196 THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

assistant master in the seminary, and had therefore 
only a small share in the teaching. He was a good, 
true-hearted man, with an unaffected zeal for learning, 
and he soon attached himself warmly to me. In 
addition to the above-named, there were also on the 
establishment a drawing-master of the name of Licht- 
wardt, and a steward — for the majority of the pupils 
lived and boarded in the seminary. I had to super- 
intend the doings of the whole establishment, and to 
direct the household economy, so that my duties were 
not light. My department of instruction comprised 
pedagogy and didactics, morphology and geometry, 
geography, natural philosophy, and natural history. 

I had begun my lessons already in the month of 
December, although I did not actually enter on my 
office till the 1st of January, 1818. During the 
whole of the first quarter there was a great deal to 
be thought over and settled with regard to the 
method of instruction, the plan of the lessons, and 
the household arrangements of the institution. Many 
purchases, too, had to be made, and other things 
which had been ordered beforehand by the council 
to be received and examined. I had also to work 
out my own course of lectures, and to construct a 
system of organization for the seminary. Of this last 
subject this book is not the fit place to speak in 
detail; I shall therefore confine myself to giving, 
later on, a general explanation of the chief features 



HYBROGRAPHICAL LABOURS. 197 

of the plan I determined on, and of the principles by 
which I was guided. 

Herr von Turk came every day — often twice in the 
day — and went about with me for at least an hour 
at a time, discussing and advising me on every 
separate detail. There was no doubt that he had the 
good of the seminary very much at heart, but he also 
evinced a warm interest in me and mine, so I, too, 
often visited him. But these long discussions made 
great inroads on my time, and were often very in- 
convenient to me. 

On the 18th of March, 1818, I received a letter 
from the Calendar Deputation, at the head of which 
was Professor Ideler, requesting me to draw a small 
map of the Rhine province for the Berlin Historical 
Calendar of 1819. I undertook the job willingly, for 
it afforded a good opportunity of utilizing the calcu- 
lations with regard to the topography of the Rhine 
district which I had made for the great postal map 
I had in hand. I finished the small map by the 21st 
of July, and was then called upon to write an 
account of the materials I had made use of; and this, 
too, was published in the Calendar. On the 2nd of 
April I received the sum of 200 thalers for the 
second third of my postal map of Germany, and I 
spent, the money in filling up sundry gaps in my 
household furniture. 

In the lovely neighbourhood of Potsdam the spring 



198 THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

season is wonderfully beautiful. We made good use 
of the fine weather, and I and my wife and children 
paid frequent visits to the New Garden, which was 
the nearest to our residence, and in which there are 
a quantity of ornamental shrubs which flower in 
the spring. The children were always very happy 
there ; and, indeed, their sojourn in Potsdam generally 
was a bright and sunny spot in their young lives. 

In the town there was a singing-union which con- 
fined itself exclusively to the performance of sacred 
and classical music. Schartlich and Loffler were 
already members of it, and Wessely, the secretary to 
the council, was the director. The latter was a most 
excellent musician, and accompanied the singing on 
the piano. I determined to join the society, and was 
received with cordial welcome. At the same time the 
privilege was accorded me of granting free member- 
ship to as many trained tenors and basses among 
the seminarists as I thought fit ; a privilege of which 
I gladly availed myself, for music and singing 
formed important elements of instruction in the 
seminary, and the meetings of the society afforded 
the pupils frequent and excellent opportunities for 
practice, and at the same time made them acquainted 
with the masterpieces of the most sublime kind of 
music, which could not but work beneficially on their 
minds and feelings, while on the other hand no risk 
was run, as they were all the time under the super- 



NA RR W HE A DS. 1 99 

vision of myself and the under-masters, and did not 
come in close contact with the other members of the 
society. I was not, however, ignorant of the fact 
that there were people here and there who, notwith- 
standing all the precautions that were taken, thought 
it very doubtful whether such an arrangement should 
be allowed to continue, as by this means the semi- 
narists acquired tastes for pleasures which in the 
future they would not be able to afford themselves, 
but would feel unable to dispense with. The world 
is full of these narrow heads, who fancy that people 
can be kept from learning or seeing anything beyond 
what they think fit to teach and show them, and 
that if they show them very little their tastes will 
remain few and simple. . These good folks do not 
consider that there is a universal and influential 
schoolmaster who is quite independent of any notions 
of theirs, and who does not trouble himself about what 
they may or may not think fit, viz., the world ; and 
that through this teacher every human being learns 
to know, more or less early, of pleasures of all sorts, 
it may be only by name, which will always seem 
greatly to be desired, and all the more so in propor- 
tion as they are foreign to his personal experience, or 
have been forbidden him. Such people in their 
narrow-minded wisdom have thought that seminarists 
should as much as possible be shut out, in cloister 
fashion, from the world, as if the experience of all 



2oo THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

times did not indisputably show that no thickness of 
monastic walls can keep out the voices of the world, 
and that the men within these walls are not by a 
hair's breadth better than those without them, only, 
perhaps of necessity, greater hypocrites. People of 
this sort, however, are not guided by experience, but 
by their own notions. But this is no reason why 
those who know better should adopt their circum- 
scribed ideas, and I did not allow myself to be in- 
fluenced by their objections. Experience has shown 
me that I acted wisely. 

For my own part I owe to this singing-union 
many hours of elevated enjoyment. The best and 
most beautiful oratorios, masses, motets, and songs of 
Mozart, Joseph Haydn, Beethoven, Graun, Andreas 
Romberg, Schicht, &c, were executed at these meet- 
ings in an admirable manner. Although there were 
several very good tenor voices among the members 
I remained for a long time first tenor, and had to 
sing nearly all the tenor solos. I did it gladly, how- 
ever, for it was enjoyment both to myself and to 
others. 

Through being a member of this union I also 
gained the advantage of close acquaintance with 
Wessely, who, although he was considerably my 
senior, soon became my intimate friend. Wessely 
was an extremely interesting man. His father, a 
Jewish merchant and a manufacturer of silk goods, 



A RENDEZVOUS. 20 1 

had had in his time a fine house at Berlin, which was 
the gathering-place of all the beaux esprits of the day. 
Moses Mendelssohn, Sulzer, Rainier, Engel, David 
Friedlander, and many others, almost belonged to 
the family, and consequently young Wessely breathed 
from his earliest childhood a high intellectual and 
artistic atmosphere, and his own excellent abilities 
had every advantage of surroundings. His remarkable 
talent for music especially developed itself. When 
quite a boy he played the pianoforte exquisitely, and 
his capacity for composing was cultivated by Kirn- 
berger in the most careful and productive manner. 
His classical studies Wessely pursued at the Joachims- 
thal grammar-school. Whether his father had already 
gone over to Christianity, or whether the son was the 
first to renounce the Jewish faith, I do not remember, 
but it is certain that the younger W T essely was a 
Christian, and neither in his appearance nor in his 
language could his descent be detected. He spoke 
and wrote both French and German admirably. 

Scarcely had Wessely attained the age of manhood 
when his father, involved in the ruin of another 
house of business, lost the whole of his fortune, and 
the young man found himself dependent on his own 
resources. Engel, who was then director of the 
National Theatre in Berlin, interested himself in him, 
and in spite of his youth gave him the post of musical 
director of the theatre. Three years later he was 



202 THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

appointed by Prince Henry of Prussia, brother of 
King Frederick the Great, Kapellmeister at Rheinsberg, 
where the Prince maintained a French company who 
performed French operas. At the Berlin theatre 
Wessely was succeeded by Bernhard Anselm Weber. 
These tivo men hated each other most thoroughly. 

Wessely had very little to do at Rheinsberg, as the 
operatic performances took place rarely. He married, 
and grew accustomed to an idle life, like all his asso- 
ciates — singers, actors, and musicians. They smoked, 
talked, made love, and intrigued ; ate, drank, and slept; 
and occasionally varied these occupations with a trip 
to Berlin. At Rheinsberg Wessely's wife gave birth 
to a son and a daughter. 

In course of time the Prince died, and Wessely 
reckoned confidently on a pension ; but the Prince 
had stated in his will that only those who at his 
death had been in his service a specified number of 
years were to receive pensions. Wessely's term of 
service was six weeks short of the requisite time, and 
so he was turned off empty-handed. No petitions or 
representations were of the slightest avail. He went 
back with his wife and children to Berlin, and tried 
to make a livelihood by teaching. This, however, 
proved but a scanty means of subsistence until the 
French came to Berlin ; then people were needed who 
could speak and write French, and Wessely was taken 
into the service of the magistrate as assistant secretary, 



AN ADMINISTRATIVE BOARD. 203 

until the French should withdraw. This led to his 
being recommended to the Council of Administration 
at Potsdam, and receiving from them the appointment 
of secretary to the council, with a salary which was 
only just sufficient to keep him in existence. His 
wife in the meantime had died. He was certainly 
fitted for something better than this subordinate 
office. He was well versed in ancient and modern 
languages and literature, was an excellent musician, 
both theoretically and practically ; was gifted with a 
sound and penetrating judgment, and could grasp 
questions of all sorts with readiness and ability. 
In this respect, indeed, he surpassed many of his 
superiors ; but he was extremely indolent, and disliked 
work. Only when his sympathies were powerfully 
excited would he exert himself of his own accord. 
His various and extensive recollections, experiences, 
and attainments made his conversation always in- 
teresting and instructive, and on the stage of an 
amateur theatre no one was so welcome as he. 

It was now necessary that I should make myself 
acquainted with the constitution of an administrative 
board, with the machinery, and the mode of trans- 
acting business, as I had immediate dealings with the 
council, and was in various ways connected with the 
director, the Chief President Von Bassewitz, and the 
members and subordinate officials. To acquire this 
knowledge, however, did not take very long. I was 



204 THE SELF-MADE MAN, 

beyond measure astonished at the manner in which 
the decrees of the council were made. I had imagined 
that the same process would have been gone through 
as in solving a mathematical problem : viz., starting 
from axioms, constructing on fixed principles, apply- 
ing instances, keeping the premisses clearly in view, 
forming a right conclusion, and if necessary repeating 
the process until the result worked itself out unques- 
tionably, and its justice was completely established. 
Nothing of the kind, however, was done. The 
decernent stated the question in the form in which it 
had been communicated to him, or as it seemed to 
him to stand ; the councillors present contributed 
their various lights, and formed their judgments from 
appearances ; the decernent then summed up the 
result's, and wrote the decree down in a few words; the 
co-decernent made additions or amendments ; and then 
the decree was passed and published. This was not 
at all according to my ideas of what should be. The 
decrees were as a rule founded, not on accurate 
knowledge, but on mere assumption ; compared with 
what I had imagined to be the process it was like 
geometry by rule of thumb. No learning, I said to 
myself, was needed in order to concoct decrees after 
this fashion, but only ordinary common sense. Had 
I at that time known how very well content people 
can be with laws and regulations which are only the 
product of the most ordinary understandings, I 



MUSICAL EVENINGS. 205 

should certainly not have made such excessive 
demands. But this point of wisdom is not reached 
without manifold experiences. 

Wessely and his daughter were our constant guests 
on Sundays. We had agreed together to organize a 
private musical society, consisting of Wessely, Loffler, 
Schartlich, myself, and a few others, and to meet 
alternately at each other's houses on Thursdays, to 
practise songs, oratorios, masses, hymns, &c. A few 
ladies were invited to take the soprano and alto parts, 
and the tenors and basses were strengthened by some 
of the best singers among the seminarists. Wessely 
conducted at the pianoforte, and played the most 
difficult pieces like a real virtuoso. We used to 
assemble at six in the evening and perform till seven, 
when we had tea and bread-and-butter, and it was 
the rule that, except on the foundation day, no other 
refreshments should be provided. After tea we went 
on with our music again as long as we liked. These 
evenings, which were kept up regularly all the time 
I lived at Potsdam, afforded us great enjoyment. 

As I have said, I was on very intimate terms with 
Loffler. Neither he nor Schartlich knew anything of 
mathematics or the natural sciences, and both of them 
were fully aware of how great a want this was. 
Meeting constantly, almost every day as we did, it was 
impossible but that conversation should frequently 
turn on such matters, and they would then always 



206 THE SELF-MADE MAN, 

lament to me their ignorance. I accordingly offered 
to give them a course of instruction on these subjects, 
on condition that they went diligently through the 
necessary exercises. They accepted my offer grate- 
fully, and the evening hours were devoted to the 
lessons. Schartlich, with his usual vacillation, soon 
gave up, but Loffler persevered for several years, and 
thus became thoroughly master of these branches of 
learning. 

For an account of the arrangements and organization 
of the seminary I refer my readers to the "History of 
the Royal Seminary for Schoolmasters at Potsdam, 
during its Thirty-one Years' continuance there. By 
J. G. Hiensch, Director. Potsdam, 1848. Gr. fol. S. 
6 — 14," where all that is important is given in detail. 
At the beginning of August the first public 
examination of the seminarists took place. It was 
attended by a large concourse of visitors, and the 
performances of the young men met with general 
approval. 

During the summer holidays Herr von Turk invited 
me to accompany him on a school inspection tour 
through part of the province, and I was extremely 
glad to go, especially as all my expenses were to be 
paid for me. We left Potsdam on the 18th August, 
1818, and drove, through continuous heavy rain, by 
Grossen-Kreuz to Brandenburg. When we were 
within a mile of this town the weather began to clear 



A TOUR OF INSPECTION. 207 

up. The ancient city of Brandenburg, where we 
spent the night, made quite a solemn impression on 
me. The next day was very fine, and we drove to 
Rathenow ; here we visited the Superintendent Ewald, 
and at his pressing invitation agreed to take up our 
quarters at his house. In the afternoon I examined 
for permanent appointment a rector who had been 
nominated temporarily, and inspected the town school. 
The next morning we drove to a neighbouring village 
to inspect the school; the schoolmaster was an ener- 
getic man, greatly beloved by all the children, who 
looked upon it as a great punishment to be kept away 
from school. In the afternoon I examined another 
schoolmaster and two intending seminarists. We left 
Rathenow early on the 21st of August, and drove 
through a heathery region to Sandow. The high 
banks of the Elbe lay at no great distance from us, 
and we soon reached Havelberg, which presented a 
stately appearance. This town had a special interest 
for me, for there had been a question of eventually 
removing the seminary to the cathedral there, and 
the idea was not yet abandoned. In that case I should 
have had one of the residences to live in. Had this 
plan been carried out my life would have shaped 
itself differently in many respects ; but who can say 
how? We were the guests of the Superintendent 
Hohenhorst at the cathedral — a cultivated man, who 
entertained us most hospitably. Superintendent 



208 THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

Sadewasser, who lived in the town, also gave us a 
grand repast. At Havelberg, we visited the town 
and cathedral schools, and the following day we drove 
to Wilsnack, where we went over the school and 
the celebrated great church, formerly a resort of pil- 
grims and renowned all over the world. We then 
continued our tour of inspection through Wittenberg, 
Lenzen, Perlebcrg, Kyritz, Wusterhausen, and Neu- 
stadt-on-the-Dosse, where we arrived on the 29th, 
and spent the whole day, going over the school, the 
stud, the looking-glass manufactory, and the metal- 
refining works, with the School-Inspector Segnitz for 
our well-informed guide. The next morning we drove 
to Fehrbellin, where we were cordially received by 
the Superintendent Bevenroth. We called on the 
School-Inspector Bethge, who had a very pretty and 
amiable wife, and went with him to the school. This 
man kept with laborious punctuality an accurate class- 
journal, in which he noted down at every lesson the 
progress made by the school children. The following 
day we drove to Gross-Bahnitz, a property of the 
Itzenplitz family, where the School-Inspector Frosch 
had a preparatory institute for future seminarists, and 
where we assisted at an examination. In the evening 
there was a report that a fire had broken out in the 
neighbourhood, but it was not known whether it was 
near enough to send engines. We mounted the tower, 
but were all of different opinions. I felt sure, how- 



THE REWARD OF LABOUR. 209 

ever, that the scene of the fire was at least five miles 
distant, and we came down again calmly. The next 
day we learnt that it was almost twenty-five miles off. 
On the afternoon of the following day we returned 
to Potsdam. 

A few days later I went with my wife and chil- 
dren to Neustadt-Eberswald, where my brother-in-law 
August Heyl had lately been appointed schoolmaster. 
We remained there two or three days, and during our 
visit made an excursion to Kloster Chorin. 

In October, the Burgher-school at Potsdam was 
annexed to the seminary for the practical use of the 
seminarists. It consisted at that time of three classes 
only, but the number very soon increased considerably, 
for the school, which till then had continued in a 
pining condition, now gained in a pre-eminent degree 
the confidence of the inhabitants. It was placed 
entirely under my management, and I myself gave 
lessons in it four times a week. This brought me 
into still closer official relations with Loffler. The 
arrangement proved a very beneficial one both for the 
seminary and the school, and consequently also for 
the town. 

On the 16th of December the Royal Ministry of 
Religion, Education, and Medical AiFairs nominated 
me Director of the Seminary, and took the opportunity 
of remarking that I had shown myself worthy of this 
distinction, as well by my attainments as by practical 

vol. 11. p 



210 THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

ability and faithful services on behalf of the seminary. 
On the 29th of the same month the Royal Govern- 
ment, in honourable acknowledgment of my services, 
bestowed on me a gratuity which, falling just upon 
the new year, was very acceptable. 



CHAPTEK XXIV. 

[Von Turk not a man of business — Embarrassments caused thereby — His early- 
history — His good intentions often marred by his indecision — The author 
makes a new Chinese puzzle — Musical performances — A collection of 
natural objects acquired for the seminary — Different ideas concerning 
the training of schoolmasters — Hall added to the seminary for musical 
meetings — Celebration at its opening — A cantata composed by the 
author performed — He makes the acquaintance of Franko, Court apothe- 
cary — Courses of lectures to the schoolmasters in the neighbourhood of 
Potsdam — Illustrations of their non-success.] 

HPHE year 1819 had begun. My postal map was 
-*- advancing but slowly, for the seminary and the 
school kept me busily employed, and in addition I had 
always a great deal of correspondence to get through 
with the council. I had by this time convinced my- 
self that it was of very little use to discuss the affairs 
of the seminary beforehand with Herr von Turk. 
With the best and noblest intentions he was decidedly 
not a man of business. To-day he would order this, 
to-morrow that, and thus involve himself and me in 
hopeless perplexities. His perpetual interference in 
the business of the institution caused me unnecessary 
work, and his long visits took up a great deal of time 
which I could ill spare. In the council, too, his 
influence, which had formerly been considerable, was 

r 2 



212 THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

evidently on the wane. I had, nevertheless, a great 
regard and affection for him, for I knew that his sole 
object was to do good. Many of his blunders I was 
able to avert or set right again, but this was not 
always possible, as I often did not know what he was 
meditating, and he was very hasty in his proceedings. 
Sometimes I was compelled firmly to oppose him. 
For instance, on one of his inspection tours he met 
with an assistant schoolmaster, who pleased him very 
much, and who held a miserably poor post. He 
advised him to throw up his wretched situation, and 
at the expiration of his quarter's notice to come to 
Potsdam, where he would provide something better 
for him. The schoolmaster followed his advice, and 
at the end of three months arrived in Potsdam and 
presented himself to Herr von Ttirk, who in themean- 
while had forgotten the whole business. After some 
time, however, he recollected his promise, and then 
he was very much embarrassed. He sent the man to 
me with a note, instructing me to receive him into 
the seminary, and give him board and lodging until 
something else could be arranged. I went to Herr 
von Tiirk and explained to him that I had no right 
to spend the funds of the seminary on outsiders. He 
replied that it was all one so long as the money was 
used in the interest of education. I would not agree 
to this, however, and he was compelled to seek some 
other way of providing for his protege. He was 



A N ED UCA TIONA L ENTHUSIA ST. 213 

everlastingly involving himself in complications of 
this sort by his kindly desire to help the needy and 
by his habit of making rash promises, and for this 
reason he was the horror of all men of business. But 
he was all the same a distinguished and highly esti- 
mable man. 

A native of Meiningen, Herr von Turk's early 
education had been a private and scanty one. Later 
he had studied at the university and devoted himself 
to jurisprudence, and had eventually been appointed 
councillor of justice in Oldenburg. He soon, however, 
gave up this post and went as chamberlain to one of 
the Mecklenburg courts, where his life was spent in 
learning every imaginable game and contriving enter- 
tainments of all sorts for his princely masters. Of 
this sort of thing he had very soon had enough. But 
while there his attention was by^hance directed to 
some physical experiments which excited his interest. 
He had an electrical machine and other instruments 
constructed for himself, and threw himself zealously 
into the pursuit of physics. This led him on to the 
study of mathematics, and he took to visiting schools 
during the hours of lessons in order to see how this 
subject was treated by the different masters. In this 
way he acquired an interest in education, became 
alive to the importance of the subject, and eager 
to know more about it. He took leave of the 
court and went to Switzerland as a pupil of Pesta- 



2i 4 THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

lozzi's, and, after he had practised the art of teaching 
for some time under this great master, he esta- 
blished an educational institute of his own, which 
he afterwards removed to Vevay, on the Lake of 
Geneva. Here the happiest period of his life was 
spent. But the strong impulse which education 
received in Prussia during the years from 1813 
to 1815, and to a certain extent also in 1811, 
and the great attention bestowed on the question by 
our Government, excited in him the wish to be also 
active in the cause. He wrote to the Ministry and 
offered his services. He had already gained a reputa- 
tion as a writer on pedagogic matters, and he was 
forthwith nominated councillor of administration 
and education at Frankfort-on-the-Oder. Finding 
himself, however, unable to get on with his chief, 
he begged to be appointed elsewhere, and was ac- 
cordingly removed in the same capacity to Potsdam, 
where the chief of the council was an old friend of 
his. But owing to the circumstances of his career, 
the best germs of his mind had unfortunately 
remained either wholly undeveloped or insufficiently 
cultivated, and he had not resolution enough to set 
to work now and fill up all the gaps. With every 
desire to do good, he nevertheless managed to be a 
constant vexation to himself and to others — to those 
especially who were nearest to him, and with whom 
he most wished to be friends. In spite of my love 



A NEW PUZZLE. 215 

for him, I could not help often applying to him 
those pithy words : " Heaven preserve me from 
my friends ! with my enemies I know how to deal." 
But however often he provoked me to anger I always 
forgave him afterwards, for he never acted from bad 
motives, and had not the least idea how troublesome 
he made himself with his fidgetiness and indecision. 

I had been obliged to put aside for the present the 
working out of my system of morphology ; but my 
occupation with this subject had brought me into 
strange connections, and the bookseller Hasselberg, 
who had heard what I was engaged in doing, came 
to Potsdam and gave me an order to make a new 
Chinese puzzle which he wished to bring out. I 
took the regular sexagon as the basis, whereas the 
ordinary puzzle starts from the square, and in this 
way I obtained a large number of very interesting 
figures, which I drew, and which were brought out 
with the puzzle. My performance, however, never 
became much known, and has long since passed out 
of existence. 

Singing had always been my great delight, and I 
now frequently received from music shops in Berlin 
vocal pieces for trial. Loffler and Schartlich would 
then come in the evening, and with the help of a few 
of the seminarists we went through all the quartets 
for men's voices. Through constant practice at the 
Singing-union and our own private society, Ave had 



216 THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

acquired such skill in singing at sight that they must 
have been very difficult compositions which did not 
go right at the first trial. Amongst the soprano 
singers of our society, the young wife of the 
registrar Hesselbarth was one of the best performers. 
Her voice was not strong but very pleasing, and she 
sang correctly and with expression. My voice went 
very well with hers. Fraulein Rhino w, one of my 
pupils, was also a member. Once every year the 
Singing-union used to give a public musical per- 
formance for charitable purposes, and on these occa- 
sions I sang almost all the tenor solos. Now and 
then, too, we used to perform a mass at the Catholic 
church service, when the Musical Union, of which I 
was afterwards made an honorary member, played 
the instrumental accompaniment. In this way we 
executed several times Graun's "Death of Jesus," 
Schicht's "The End of the Righteous," Beethoven's 
"Three Hymns," Fr. Schneider's "Day of Judg- 
ment," Beethoven's " Christ on the Mount of 
Olives," Haydn's "Creation," Haydn's "The Last 
Seven Words," and a number of masses by different 
composers. These performances were always largely 
attended and met with great approval. 

An official had lately died at Klein-Glienicke, near 
Potsdam, and left behind him a large collection 
of natural objects, viz., 390 stuffed birds with their 
eggs, 27 stuffed mammalia, 900 different varieties of 



A NATURAL-HISTORY COLLECTION. 217 

seeds, and a small number of indigenous insects. The 
collector had specially turned his attention to in- 
digenous animals ; the collection contained, for ex- 
ample, all the birds of the Mark, and it had taken him 
half his lifetime and an immense djal of trouble 
to amass it. The widow addressed herself to the 
King and the Ministry, and offered the collection 
for sale for an educational institute, whereupon the 
Ministry required that a catalogue should be made of 
it. In the meantime she had also applied to me, and 
requested me to inspect the objects. It seemed to me 
that they would form a valuable addition to the 
educational materials at my command, and I felt a 
strong desire to obtain possession of them. Both in 
the seminary and the school natural history was 
taught, though a very limited amount of time was 
devoted to the subject, and special regard was had to 
those parts of it which were considered the most 
important for country schoolmasters. Under this 
head, however, came undoubtedly indigenous mam- 
malia, birds, and insects, which are of interest either 
from their useful or their injurious qualities, as also 
indigenous plants, especially those whose uses as 
fodder, vegetables, medicine, dyes, &c, render their 
cultivation most desirable, but which from ignorance 
are neglected. These considerations had guided me 
all along in my treatment of natural history, but the 
shorter the time that could be devoted to this subject 



2 1 8 THE SELF-MA DE MA N. 

the greater I felt was the necessity for making the 
lessons as impressive as possible, and for this purpose 
it seemed to me that the collection in question would 
be an immense help. Accordingly on the 4th of 
January, 1819, I wrote to the Chancellor of State, 
Prince von Hardenberg, and on the 9th to the 
Altenstein Ministry, and begged that they would 
present the collection to the seminary. On the 
17th of January I received a letter from Prince 
Hardenberg advising me to apply to the Minister 
Altenstein, and on my doing so the Minister replied 
that such a collection did not appear to be an ac- 
tual necessity for a seminary. I then wrote again 
to the Chancellor of State, and at the same time 

to his physician in ordinary, Doctor K , with 

whom I had already had some conversation on the 
subject, and who was of opinion that the in- 
struction in natural history was not carried half 
far enough in the seminary, and that it ought to 
extend to a study of the human body. He considered 
it very essential that village schoolmasters should 
have some knowledge of medicine, in order that in 
unimportant cases of illness they might themselves 
be able to doctor the country people, and in more 
important cases might at any rate be in a position to 
render assistance until a doctor could be procured. 
In spite, however, of the mediation of this influential 
man my petition was again rejected. 



THE POOR SCHOOLMASTER! 219 

I have mentioned Doctor K 's opinion in order 

to show what different ideas prevailed concerning the 
training of schoolmasters. One person maintained 
that they should have a thorough knowledge of sur- 
veying ; another that they should be able to draw up 
protocols and settle trivial disputes, after the manner 
of our present arbitrators ; a third declared that they 
ought to be veterinary surgeons, of whom the supply 
was not nearly sufficient; a fourth wished to turn 
them into receivers of taxes, by which means they 
would obtain a nice addition to their incomes ; a 
fifth declared that they were admirably fitted for 
becoming silk-cultivators ; a sixth was of opinion 
that there was nothing to be done with the present 
district gardeners, and that no reform would be 
effected in this matter until country schoolmasters 
were also gardeners; in short, each one had a dif- 
ferent idea of what a schoolmaster should be. Sad 
indeed would be the lot of an unfortunate school- 
master who should be expected more or less to fulfil 
all these various requirements, besides having to give 
satisfaction to his council, his pupils, his pupils* 
parents, his pastor, his lord of the manor, and last, 
but not least, his wife ! And to be invariably cheerful 
and contented withal ! Oh, thou poor village school- 
master, how wilt thou feel when in addition to all 
this the school-inspector, or even it may be a school- 
councillor, steps into thy not too well- ventilated 



220 THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

school-room, in which the fresh air of heaven seems 
so strange, and demands of thee that thou wilt satisfy 

him also ? And all this for a salary of Well, 

what thou hast is soon told, but it would take a long 
time to go through what thou hast not, and we will 
therefore be silent on the subject. 

As all my efforts to obtain the naturalist's collec- 
tion had hitherto been fruitless, I now addressed 
myself to the council, and with their consent it was 
bought for the use of the seminary- school, for a tri- 
fling sum out of the savings of the school funds, and 
placed in a room on the ground-floor of the seminary. 
The accurate classification and labelling of the dif- 
ferent objects occupied me for some time and afforded 
me great interest. 

There was a great want in the seminary of a hall 
in which the seminarists might hold their musical 
practices and their general gatherings ; and at my 
suggestion a room (of very limited size certainly) 
was built on to one of the side wings, and an organ 
placed in it for the use of the seminarists and also 
for devotional exercises. Schartlich, during his 
previous year's stay in Dresden, had discussed the 
matter in detail with the organ-builder Kayser, and 
drawn up a contract between him and the council. 
The instrument had a manual, a pedal, eight vocal 
stops, and an 8 -ft. principal and gedackt. The 
hall and the organ were finished by July, and 



A CANTATA. 221 

were inaugurated with singing, addresses, and prayer. 
I sent out invitations to as many of the members 
of the royal council and the Honoratioren of the 
town as our very limited space would accom- 
modate ; and the seminarists, the grown-up girls of 
the seminary-school, and the lady members of our 
singing society assisted in the vocal music. I had 
written a cantata for the occasion, the music of which 
was composed, the first half by Schartlich, and the 
second by Loffler, and the singing was accompanied 
by the organ. The celebration took place on the morn- 
ing of the 7th of July. It was a broiling day, and 
the heat in the crowded room was scarcely bearable. 
The ceremony began with the performance of the 
hymn of J. A. P. Schulz from "Athalia" : " Vor dir, o 
Ewiger, tritt unser Chor zusammen" ("Before thee, 
Eternal, our choir comes together"). Then fol- 
lowed my cantata, which, as it seems to me to be cha- 
racteristic, I will here transcribe.* By varying the 
metre I had given the composers scope for quartet, 
recitative, solo, and chorus. 

THE ORGAN. 

Deep in the human breast abides 

A secret, nameless, craving, 

That nought can silence, or fulfil ; 

In all our hoping, loving, dreaming", 

In joy and grief it has a part, 

That strange, sweet sadness of the heart. 

* I have attempted little more in this paraphrase than to represent the 
order of Kloden's ideas in tho Cantata. — Tr. 



222 THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

Whence comes it ? From what far-off time 

Is it an echo ? From what star 

Was it sent to be our guide ? 

Is its home in far-off regions % 

Will it with a gentle hand 

Lead us to the blissful land ? 

Ah, no speech avails for this, 

No words fulfil the inner yearning ; 

In silence we must bear about 

This nameless weight of dumb desire ; 

Till heaven bestow a tongue for it — 

For came it not, indeed, from heaven ? 

And, lo ! this yearning agony to soothe, 
And give relief to hearts oppressed so long, 
Comes music ; answering to her heavenly touch, 
The pent-up passion pours itself in song. 

Loud streams forth now what in silence 
Strove alone within the breast, 
What no human being ever 
In the garb of words has dressed ; 
Ah, the yearning was divine then, 
And the speech is heavenly also. 

And, as once God's Spirit 
Stirred the depths of the waters, 
So the breath of music 
Stirs the hearts of men. 

But lo, the new gift ! Let us hold it, 
And move it from better to better ; 
What is asleep we will waken, 
Making a world of new harmonies. 

Then from the bosom of the earth 
The shining ore is brought, 
And the magic of the fire is upon it, 
And from the stubborn ore is awakened 
A chorus of many voices. 



A CANTATA. 223 

Wondrous is the mind in its going ! 
Plunging into the bosom of earth, 
Questioning there the dark secrets 
Then upward higher, higher soaring : 
That heavenly things may clearer grow 
It seeketh first the depths below. 

Yea, if life must come to birth, 
Heaven must ever wed with earth. 

And down from the heights of heaven 

Men summon the clear, light air ; 

They tame, and subdue, and bind it, 

They teach the work of their hands to breathe, 

And lo, it speaks ! 

Wonderful is thy power, air, 
Thou element of heaven. 

Now thou howlest, a furious storm, 
Through the crackling oaks of the forest, 
And the tower of the fortress is shaken, 
And the ships are shattered and wrecked : 
Raging, destroying, thou breakest in hate, 
What men have made in joy and hope. 

Now thou breathest gently, gaily, 

And the flowers nod to thy breathing ; 

Softly thou whisperest in the trees, 

And the butterflies sway to thy whispers : 

Then, rustling kindly, fanning, 

Thou kissest the maiden's rosy cheeks — 

Thou art caught in her sunny locks. 

And now with roar as of thunder 
From iron mouths outbreaking, 
Herald of war, on wings of fury, 
Thou bringest misery, murder, ravin ; 
Tossing around thee the seeds of sorrow, 
Smiting with death the hearts of men. 



224 THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

Then, breathing in the solemn organ tone, 

Thou speakest worship for our silent hearts, 

Thou givest us wings — then heavenward thou soarest, 

Carrying our prayers to the eternal throne. 

But when the wild will of the winds 

In tempests is racing, a lawless round, 

The harmony we love is lost, 

The rustle of her seraph's wing is drowned. 

Law's taming power must first control 

Ere music can entrance the soul. 

Then the wondrous harmonies awake, 

And echo in magic circles ; 

In lovely musical changes 

On the listening* ear they break ; 

And in the crashing, and the rending 

We hear Art's rhythmic footfalls blending. 

Let each one, therefore, reverence law and rule, 

Let each preserve the balance of his powers, 

So will his life be one pure chord. 

And as the splendour of colour 

Comes of the sevenfold breaking of light, 

So from the breaking of sound 

Is the beauty of harmony born. 

And the beauty is seen, and the speech is heard, 

And man listens. 

Ah, not the solitary heart alone 
Does music's stream refresh and soothe ; 
For meeting souls more sweetly still it flows, 
More full and more melodious are its waves. 

Exalted then, our hearts beat high 

Above the dust of earth ; 

The air of heaven around us blows, 

In newborn strength of faith and hope, 

When mingling with the organ's full, pure notes, 

Our song of consecration upward floats. 



A SPEECH. 225 

And as the sun serenely sinks to rest 

After a glorious day, 

So seems it when the organ's dying tones 

Fade lingeringly away ; 

So too when holy, happy lives shall cease, 

May our pure spirits pass away in peace. 

And as we all do consecrate thee now, 
Unite thou us through many a sacred hour ; 
Emblem of order, purity, be thou, 
Of strength — fair fruit of gentleness and power. 
Teach us thy language, help our hearts to turn 
From earth's vain pomp, in ashes perishing, 
Speak to us, help us heavenly things to learn, 
Till last, in heaven, our hallelujahs ring. 

I had joined in the singing throughout and sung 
all the tenor solos. At the conclusion of the perform- 
ance I stepped forward and delivered my speech. I 
spoke of the organ as the most admirably adapted 
instrument for leading sacred song and lifting up the 
heart to God, and of the duty which devolved on all 
those who devoted themselves to its service to do so 
with pure hearts and serious minds, not degrading 
this noble art to unworthy uses, but constantly 
bearing in mind its high vocation ; and I ended bv 
saying that it was the sincere hope of the high officials 
connected with the school that all who made use of 
the organ, whether as learners or as teachers, would 
be actuated by a spirit of earnestness, piety, and 
devotion, and that they prayed to God that their 
hopes might not be disappointed. Then followed the 
consecration itself and a prayer, and a hymn of 

vol. 11. Q 



226 THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

Grille's, " Allmachtiger, den in vereinten Choren " 
("Almighty, whom in united choirs"), ended the pro- 
ceedings, which had made a solemn impression on all 
present. The masters, the lady-singers, and those of 
the seminarists who had taken a principal part in 
the music, dined with me and remained till towards 
evening. 

In spite, however, of the great and general satis- 
faction which the ceremony had given, one clerical 
member of the council felt himself called upon to ques- 
tion the propriety of alluding to the " rosy cheeks" 
and "sunny locks" of "a maiden" in a poem com- 
posed for a festivity of seminarists. A seminarist, he 
said, ought never to think of such things, and he 
was beginning to read me a lecture on the subject, 
but the other members of the council succeeded in 
silencing him. How would it have fared with me 
if I had myself created these rosy cheeks and sunny 
locks ? 

Already before the consecration of the organ I had 
made the acquaintance of Franke, the Court apothe- 
cary at Potsdam, and he was so strongly impressed 
by my poem, which had struck the keynote of his 
soul, that he now sought my friendship more eagerly 
than ever. I could not refuse it him. Franke was a 
highly estimable man in spite of many eccentricities, 
which were not everywhere treated with forbearance, 
and through which he was apt to give offence. The 



A SWEDENBORGIAN. 227 

possessor of a considerable private fortune and of a 
very remunerative business, he practised great bene- 
volence. The whole of the village of Nowawess, near 
Potsdam, was supplied by him with medicine gra- 
tuitously. He was, moreover, an extremely clever 
man in his line, sternly conscientious, and true to 
the backbone. To all who would listen to him 
— even to his friends — he spoke his mind openly 
and uncompromisingly ; and it was often a very 
rough mind, for his judgments of men were always 
extreme. His opinions, however, did not influence 
his dealings. He lived in a world of fanciful ideas, 
believed in spiritual apparitions, and was through- 
out a Swedenborgian. He strongly recommended 
to me the study of Swedenborg's works, for which, 
however, I felt no inclination. He was also a Free- 
mason, but had lately separated himself from the 
lodge, and was a great worshipper of Fessler and of 
Krause, both of whom he knew personally. Although 
he had been married twice he had had no children. 
His friendship was valuable to me in more than one 
respect, but chiefly with regard to chemistry and 
botany. 

Herr von Turk had proposed that the masters of 
the seminary should give additional courses of lec- 
tures on Saturday afternoons for the benefit of the 
schoolmasters in the near neighbourhood of Potsdam. 
We all agreed to the plan, and divided the different 

q2 



228 THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

subjects amongst us. I took to myself morphology 
and geometry. The lectures were announced, and 
about sixteen schoolmasters, partly from Potsdam, 
partly from the adjoining villages and hamlets, sent 
in their names ; they all had the greatest desire to 
learn, but in most cases they turned out to be very 
insufficiently prepared for such condensed courses as 
we were obliged to give. Only a small number of 
them derived any real benefit, and most of them 
made no progress whatever. Among the latter was 
a little old man, with grey hair and a see-sawing gait, 
who always looked happy and cheerful. I had gone 
through the connections of four straight lines, and 
shown that these may cut each other in one, two, 
three, and up to six points, but not in more, and I 
had exemplified all the different cases. I now called 
upon this old man to draw three straight lines, cutting 
each other at three points, i.e., to draw a triangle. He 
went up to the board, drew with a piece of chalk a 
perpendicular line, stepped back, smiling compla- 
cently, and was going to sit down again. "Three 
lines are to be connected together," I said. " Ah, so !" 
said the old man, went back to the board, and drew 
a second perpendicular line, which he smiled at with 
equal satisfaction. " Three lines are to intersect each 
other! " I exclaimed. "Aha," he replied, drew a 
their perpendicular line, and returned to his seat well 
pleased with his work. The three lines were all 



REBUKED. 229 

parallel to each other, and he had not the least idea 
what I had been driving at. What use was there in 
such a man coming every week all the way to the 
town ? Several of them soon fell off, and amongst 
others one who had been among the best. Happen- 
ing to meet this man one day, I asked him why he no 
longer came. lie answered, with tears in his eyes, 
that his old superintendent had forbidden his doing 
so. He had met him on his way to a lecture, and 
asked him where he was going, and on his answering, 
"To the seminary, where instruction is given to us," 
the superintendent had asked him if he was not 
ashamed to go to school again like a young lad. If 
he did not know as much as was necessary he ought 
never to have been appointed schoolmaster ; and if 
he did, there was no need for him to go to the semi- 
nary, and he forbade his doing so any more. And 
so there was nothing left for him but to turn back. 
This worthy man was still living a short time ago. 
When the wet autumn weather set in, the attendance 
fell off so greatly that the classes had to be closed. 



CHAPTER XXV. 

[Pleasant evenings at Potsdam — A welcome gratuity from Government — 
Excursion with Wessely and others to Schwedt — Admitted a member of 
the Mark Agricultural Society — Expedition to the Hartz mountains with 

Franke, the Court apothecary, and Rector M The character of these 

two men contrasted — On the Brocken — Sunday-school for artisans opened 
in the seminary — Its want of success — Meteorological observations — 
The author commissioned by the Government to draw up a plan for a 
Gewerbe institute at Berlin — Becomes a Freemason — Assists in the esta- 
blishment of a mineral well at Potsdam — Its failure — Excursion to 
Dessau and Worlitz— Description of the pleasure-grounds — Von Turk's 
Civil Orphan Asylum — Multiplicity of the author's engagements — Finds 
it impossible to keep within his income— Receives an advance payment 
and another gratuity from Government.] 

11 /TE AN WHILE, I was gradually extending my con- 
-"-*- nection. Zarnack, director of education at the 
Potsdam Military Orphan Asylum, an honest, unpre- 
tentious man, who some time later fell a victim to 
very adverse fortune, had lately become more closely 
acquainted with me. He had formerly been pastor 
at Beeskow, and was an energetic educationalist. 
We had much friendly intercourse together. Rela- 
tions of the same kind grew up with the Bishop, Dr. 
Eylert, and the latter proposed that we should meet 
alternately at each other's houses one evening in the 
month, partake of a simple supper, and devote the 
evening to friendly conversation. The idea was car- 



A WELCOME GRATUITY. 231 

ried out, and Herr von Tiirk also joined us. We 
continued to meet in this way for about a year, and 
had very pleasant evenings. Bishop Eylert, however, 
always kept himself rather aloof, which prevented 
our conversation from ever becoming very intimate 
or confidential. This reserve was more the result of 
his nature and position than of intention. 

Under such circumstances, and amid useful work 
of the most manifold description, the year 1820 
began. 

My postal map was finished in this year, and I 
received the rest of the payment for it. It was an 
immense relief to my mind to have completed this 
work, for it was a great deal too much for me in 
addition to all my official labours. The map, how- 
ever, remained in MS. The person who had wished 
for it the most eagerly had died in the meanwhile, 
opinions had altered, and the idea of engraving it 
was renounced. After a time I heard nothing more 
about it. I regret very much that it has been lost to 
the public. 

On the 24th of March I received from the Royal 
Government a gratuity of forty thalers. This money 
was very acceptable to me, as my income was barely 
sufficient to cover my expenses. My position entailed 
many extraordinary demands on my purse. All the 
schoolmasters and clergymen who came to Potsdam 
visited the seminary, and as a rule I was obliged to 



232 THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

entertain them to a greater or less extent. Very 
often, too, I had to pay the guide who conducted them 
over the town and the gardens. Although by this 
means I was brought into contact with many excel- 
lent and interesting men whose acquaintance was of 
great value to me, it involved a considerable sacrifice 
of time and money. 

At Whitsuntide I and my family joined Wessely 
and his daughter and Lofner in a journey to Schwedt, 
where Zernial in the meanwhile (not without my 
co-operation) had been appointed rector and afternoon 
preacher. We went by Berlin, Bernau, Neustadt- 
Eberswald, where we halted for the day, and Anger- 
mlinde. Zernial's school was in a flourishing con- 
dition, and he himself beneficially active in the place. 

On the 3rd of July I was made a member of the 
Mark Agricultural Society at Potsdam, and they 
nominated me permanent member of their committee 
for the management of business and the printing of 
publications. 

This same summer the Court apothecary Franke 

proposed to me to accompany him and Rector M 

of Juterbogk on an expedition to the Hartz mountains. 
I had never yet seen a chain of mountains, and as 
Franke only required his travelling companions to 
contribute the small sum of fifty thalers each to the 

expenses, I willingly agreed to go. M would not 

have hesitated if it had cost him 1,000 thalers, for it 



CONTRASTS OF CHARACTER. 233 

was all the same to him whether he spent much' or 
little. He Avas a strange man, little and meagre, with 
long hair, and dressed after the old fashion. He, too, 
had been in SAvitzerland with Pestalozzi, but had not 
learnt much from him, and on the whole preferred 
doing nothing. He had formerly lived at Potsdam, 
and Franke had then done a great deal for him and 
his family; even now he was a yearly source of 
expense to the generous apothecary. Franke was 
thoroughly alive to all the rector's faults, — faults 
which the rector himself frankly owned, — but never- 
theless he did not withdraw his support from him. 
Franke used to say that it was much to his credit that 
he knew his own failings so well, it was only a pity that 

he would not cure himself of them ; and when M 

went on to assure him that he had not the slightest 
intention of so doing, he thought this frankness highly 
to be prized, but did not give up the hope that he 
would improve. These two men formed the most 
remarkable contrast to one another, and though they 
were everlastingly quarrelling they were as indis- 
pensable to each other as Don Quixote and Sancho 
Panza. The one was always chasing phantoms and 
ideals, and bathed every object that presented itself 
in the halo of his imagination before he would con- 
template it ; the other stood on the firm ground of 
the hardest reality, and loved before all things a good 
dinner and a luxurious corner afterwards in which to 



234 THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

wear off the effects of it. To hear them together — 
the enthusiastic, high-flown, eloquent exhortations to 
reform of the one, and the short, pithy, prosaic 
answers of the other, neither of them, all the while, 
having any intention to quarrel — was beyond every- 
thing entertaining. 

We left Potsdam towards ten o'clock in the evening 
of the 30th of August, and reached Genthin at half- 
past four in the morning. Here, at that time, the 
carriage-road ended, and for the rest of the journey 
our coach had to go over a flat sandy path. At ten 
o'clock a.m. we arrived at Burg, and at three o'clock 
in the afternoon at Magdeburg. At the hotel we were 
received by the apothecary of Neu-Haldensleben. He 
was a former pupil of Franke's, and had invited him 
to stand godfather to one of his children who was to 
be christened on the following day. He took us over 
the town and the venerable cathedral, and we then 
went on to Neu-Haldensleben. The christening took 
place on the 1st of September, and in the afternoon 
we went over the beautifully- organized factory-works 
of Nathusius, councillor of commerce for Haldens- 
leben and Hundisburg, and the gardens belonging to 
them. It was a perfect system of industrial economy; 
one factory supplied the other either with its product 
or its refuse, and nothing was lost. The following 
day we travelled past Seehausen, Aschersleben, and 
Halberstadt, to Werningerode and Ilsenburg, at the 



ON THE BROCK EN. 235 

foot of the Hartz mountains, and spent the night at 
the " Red Trout." The next morning, September 3rd, 
we ascended the Ilsenstein, and afterwards went to 
the Brocken, following the course of the merry Use 
and her waterfalls, and diligently examining the 
plants by the way-side and along the murmuring 
stream. At mid-day we reached the Brockenhouse, 
ascended the tower, and enjoyed the incomparable 
view. The weather was fine, though the sky was not 
without passing clouds. We then drank the health of 
our King, whose birthday it was, in a glass of excel- 
lent wine. In the afternoon the scenery and the moun- 
tain vegetation engrossed our attention, in the evening 
the starry heavens. We spent quite a tolerable night, 
and breakfasted there the following morning. The 
Brocken girls brought their nosegays ; we wrote our 
names in the Brocken book, and then set off again on 
our wanderings. I no longer remember what prompted 
me in descending the mountain to separate myself 
from my companions. We agreed to meet again at 
Juliushall near Neustadt ; I noted the direction in 
which this place lay, and, forsaking the beaten track, 
I ran straight down the side of the Brocken. I was 
often compelled to jump from rock to rock, and the 
way began to seem interminable. After running for a 
considerable time I came to the so-called "Wolken- 
haus," and thenceforth the road, though by no means 
good, was at least traceable. At length I reached the 



236 THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

saline springs of Juliushall at the foot of the Harzburg, 
but I was too tired to go up to the top of the mountain. 
I refreshed myself with a glass of beer, and waited for 
my companions, who in course of time made their 
appearance. We then hired a carriage and drove to 
Goslar. This ancient imperial town with its numerous 
towers looked very imposing, but the interior did not 
fulfil the promise of the exterior. Nevertheless its 
ancient style of architecture excited my interest in a 
high degree. We spent the rest of the day and the 
following morning in seeing the sights of this place, 
tasted its famous Gose-beer within the thick walls of 
the Tower Tavern, and then went on to the Ram- 
melsberg, where we arrived just in time to see 
the fires lighted {Feuersetzen # ) in the mines. This 
interested us very much. It is a really fine sight 
and one well worth seeing. We left Goslar in the 
afternoon, and went by Harlingerode and Ilsenburg 
to Wernigerode, where we spent the night, and the 
next day, the 6th of September, to Elbingerode 
and . Rtibeland, whence we made excursions to the 
marble-mill and the Bielshohle.t From Riibeland we 
went on foot to Htittenrode, through flowery meadows 
which afforded us great interest, and then drove to 

* Feuersetzen : This is a peculiar process by -which the mining operations in 
the mountain are facilitated. Large heaps of wood are piled against the hard 
clay-slate which contains the ore and set on fire, burning about forty-eight 
hours. The result is that the rock becomes brittle and rent with fissures, 
rendering the process of excavation very easy. 

f Biehhohh : A stalactite cavern in a limestone rock. 



A SUNDAY-SCHOOL. 237 

Gernrode and spent the night on the Stubenberg. 
On the 7th of September we went to Magdesprung 
through the lovely Selkethal to Alexisbad ; the day 
after by Halberstadt to Magdeburg, and then back by 
post to Potsdam. 

Following the instructions of Herr von Turk, I 
established in the seminary a Sunday-school in which 
artisans' apprentices and journeymen might receive 
instruction and assistance in reading, writing, and 
arithmetic. The lessons were given in the evening 
by the most competent of the seminarists, and were 
all gratuitous. Each separate class was placed under 
the special supervision of one of the masters, and the 
management of the whole was in my hands. A great 
many members joined at first, but in a short time the 
attendance became very irregular, and it was not easy 
to maintain order and discipline. Over the journey- 
men there was no control whatever, and the appren- 
tices could only be managed indirectly through their 
masters, and appealing to the latter seldom had any 
good effect. Thus the good intentions which had 
prompted the starting of this school were defeated. 
Moreover the seminary masters were already overdone 
with work, for the staff of teachers was very small, 
and each one naturally wished to have one day in the 
week to himself. The same applied to the seminarists ; 
and accordingly after the end of the first winter the 
plan was given up. 



238 THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

On the 1st of January, 1821, I began, by order of 
the Royal Government, to make meteorological obser- 
vations. For this purpose I used my own admirable 
instruments, especially two corresponding correct 
syphon-barometers. The observations had to be 
taken and noted down three times a day, and for 
this work I received a trifling remuneration. Once 
a month the results had to be compared and sent in 
to the Council, and at the beginning of every year 
they were examined. I went on making these ob- 
servations regularly as long as I remained at Pots- 
dam, and after I left Loffler continued them with my 
instruments. 

On the 23rd of January, 1821, I received from the 
Royal Government a commission to draw up a plan, 
with an estimate of expenses, for the establishment of 
a school for artisans, which was to be in connection 
with and preparatory for the Gewerbe Institute at 
Berlin. I set about it at once, and sent it in on the 
7th of February. On the 27th of January I received 
from the Government a gratuity of thirty thalers. 

Loffler and Schartlich had a year ago joined the 
Society of Freemasons. Wessely had for a long time 
past been a zealous Freemason, and Franke was also 
one. My relations with these men were so intimate 
that Freemasonry often became the subject of dis- 
cussion between us, and our conversation generally 
ended with all the four saying that they could tell 



A FREEMASON. 239 

me nothing further until I myself had joined the 
society. I had withstood them for a long time with 
all the reasons I could think of; but they had in- 
variably — and especially Wessely — triumphantly over- 
come my arguments, and I finally consented to my 
being proposed by Wessely as a member of the lodge 
" Standhaftigkeit " (Firmness) at Potsdam ; and on 
the 4th of May, 1821, I was received into it with all 
proper forms by the presiding Master, Br. Bauer, Con- 
rector of the grammar-school. He expressed great 
pleasure at my joining the society, and gave vent to 
prophetic utterances with regard to my future in the 
lodge — utterances which, contrary to all expectations, 
found in time their fulfilment. 

An inhabitant of the Berlin suburb of Potsdam — a 
retired tradesman — had on his plot of ground by the 
Havel a well in which he had discovered water with 
a disagreeable taste and smell, and in which, when 
allowed to stand, a yellow deposit settled. For thirty 
years the well had yielded excellent water, and had 
then gradually changed its character and become 
unfit for household purposes. The owmer brought 
me a bottle of it, which I had analysed by the Court 
apothecary Franke, and it was ascertained to be 
a mineral water, of which the principal constituent 
parts were carbonate of lime and chloride of lime, 
chloride of soda, ferrous carbonate, and a large 
proportion of extracting matter, and which would 



240 THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

therefore act beneficially on the human system. The 
proprietor accordingly began to consider the idea of 
starting a bath and drinking establishment, and as he 
had not the means to do so independently, he resolved 
to address himself to the King, first taking the pre- 
caution to have another analysis of the water effected 
through the Privy Councillor Hermbstadt. This 
analysis confirmed Franke's statement, and the King 
gave orders that a commission should be appointed 
to make an official investigation of the matter and 
report their conclusions. The chemist Schrader, 
Medical Assessor, and Heidfeld, Royal Inspector of 
Architecture, were among the commissioners. The 
well was completely dug up, and the water followed 
to its source, and discovered to proceed from sand 
mixed with marl; so that it was veritable spring- 
water, not stagnant or bog-water. Moreover, the 
spring was found to be on a higher level than the 
surface of the Havel, and therefore to have no con- 
nection with that river. Schrader analysed the water 
again with great care, and ascertained that it had a 

O © 7 

strong resemblance to the water of the Freienwald 
spring, but that it was much richer in saline 
properties. The King then granted the necessary 
sum for the erection of a bathing establishment, 
and desired that it should receive the name of 
"The Potsdam Springs." Arrangements were made 
for the comfortable accommodation of visitors ; 



RIVAL DOCTORS. 241 

and in a very short time the establishment had 
acquired an extensive patronage, and numbers of 
invalids expressed themselves highly satisfied with 
the working of it.* It might have grown into an 
important institution had it not been for adverse cir- 
cumstances. Unfortunately, this establishment came 
into collision with that of a popular doctor, who did 
all in his power to run down the spring, and even 
went so far as to pretend that it was not a mineral 
water at all, but only drainage water from a former 
tan-yard, of which no one had ever heard. He must 
have known perfectly well that, had that been the 
case, no iron could have been held in solution in the 
water; but those whom he wished to impose on did 
not know it, and that was all he cared for. A 
physician of some other mineral waters let himself be 
induced to subscribe to this nonsense, and thus laid 
his chemical knowledge open to the testimonium 
pawpertatis. These hostile insinuations had the effect 
of shaking the confidence of those who could not find 
out the truth for themselves but were obliged to trust 
to hearsay. What, however, was still more preju- 
dicial to the establishment, was the fact that, owing 
to the advanced age, infirmity, and poverty of the 
proprietor and his wife, the attendance on the visitors 
was very insufficient. The old man was finally com- 

* See Kloden's " Contributions to the Mineralogic and Geognostic Know- 
ledge of the Mark Brandenburg," St Lick iv. pp. 57 f. 

VOL. II. R 



242 THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

pelied to sell his property ; it fell into the hands of 
people who were still less competent to make the 
scheme a success, and in the year 1828 the establish- 
ment was closed. I regretted its failure very much, 
for besides that such an establishment would have 
been advantageous to Potsdam, the undertaking had 
cost me a great deal of labour. I had been the chief 
mover in it, had managed all the correspondence with 
the officials and the King, and had drawn up the 
prospectuses and advertisements. It is a melancholy 
fact that one can never start anything new without 
clashing with the interests of other people and making 
enemies of them. My services brought me in two 
pecks of cherries. 

During the dog-days, I and my wife and children, 
Wessely and his daughter, and Lofner, joined in an 
expedition to Dessau and Worlitz. The beautiful 
pleasure-grounds at this last place, laid out by one of 
the most artistic and cultivated of the princes of 
Germany in tasteful parks, with delightful clusters of 
trees, water, lawns, and flower-beds, are often very 
unjustly abused ; and for this reason, that they are 
criticized from a point of view entirely different 
from that of the designer. The buildings are said 
to be mean, the statues of ordinary workmanship, 
many of the decorations trumpery, and so forth. 
But people do wrong to judge these gardens by a 
modern standard. It was not the prince's intention 



NATURE AND ART. 243 

to erect magnificent works, which should be admired 
as such ; but rather to plant centres of human asso 
ciation and fancy, and to give a higher consecration 
to the enjoyment of nature by the introduction of 
human thought. So long as material and execution 
were not out of harmony with the surroundings, so 
long as the different objects performed the services 
expected of them, that was enough. They were 
never intended to be anything more than means to 
an end. Suppose, for instance, that in a sequestered 
grove, surrounded by the solemn shade of pine-trees, 
one came upon the busts of some of our noblest poets, 
would not these, though only chiselled out of sand- 
stone, and possibly with the wrong names affixed to 
them, be nevertheless incentives to meditation on the 
great originals — perhaps even recall to one's memory 
beautiful passages from their works ? It was never 
the intention to place in the garden models of plastic 
art which, by the beauty of their material and exe- 
cution, should draw attention to themselves alone, 
and lead the mind away from the contemplated end. 
The sole merit of the work lay in the degree in which 
the symbolized thought harmonized with the nature 
of the locality. The little temples, the busts, the 
allegorical figures, were not meant to embody ideas, 
but only to suggest thoughts which the surroundings, 
or even a simple inscription, would help to expand 
and complete. In this manner one found oneself at 

r2 



244 THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

one moment paying homage to a renowned poet, at 
another contemplating the rewards of virtue or of 
vice, an Elysium or a Tartarus ; now one came upon 
the remains of a Roman amphitheatre, or some other 
ruin, and was reminded of the vanished world of the 
Greeks and Romans; now on a hill vomiting fire, 
which recalled Italy and her characteristic features. 
Imagination, contemplation, memory, and fancy, were 
thus enabled to combine the most elevating and 
hallowing sensations with the enjoyment of the 
beauties of nature. This was the aim which this 
noble and intellectual prince strove to accomplish, 
and he often succeeded in a wonderful manner. This 
point of view must be kept distinctly in sight if we 
wish to pass a correct judgment on the pleasure- 
gardens of that period, and not to impute to the 
objects placed in them pretensions which they never 
made. It is much to be regretted that in Rhode's 
description of the Worlitz gardens this consideration 
is entirely overlooked, and consequently to those who 
are acquainted with the gardens the book affords any- 
thing but pleasure. 

From Worlitz we drove to Oranienbaum, another 
of the Duke's pleasure castles. Here we were en- 
chanted with the superb orangery, which is in the 
highest degree productive and beautiful. The garden 
is full of splendid trees, amongst which wander 
broad pellucid streams ; and on their glossy surface, 



An enjoyable trip. m 

and generally grouped around a tree, masses of 
flowers lift up their heads, and, catching the light of 
the sun, are reflected in glorious colours in the water. 
This carefully kept-up garden is but little frequented, 
and thus forms a delightful retreat for solitary com- 
munion with nature. We spent a very pleasant 
afternoon there. The next day we drove to Witten- 
berg, and saw all the great sights of the town : the 
churchyard in which Luther and Melancthon are 
buried, the town church, the old Augustinian monas- 
tery, and Luther's house. The two following days 
were occupied with the return journey. We had 
had a most enjoyable triji. 

Herr von Turk was at this time busy and eager 
about the establishment of his Civil Orphan Asylum, 
a benevolent institution which still exists, and of the 
object and organization of which I shall not speak 
here, as there are special reports on the subject 
which give all necessary information. I was an 
active co operator in this work, and there was not a 
single point connected with it which Herr von Ttirk 
did not first discuss carefully with me. I also, like 
many others, contributed fifty thalers' worth of 
pictures to be raffled for, for the benefit of the 
Asylum, which entitled me to be one of the original 
shareholders. The Peace Society, which had been 
established a short time before at Potsdam, also 
interested me deeply. I was a member of it, and 



246 THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

belonged to the committee of management. My chief 
business was to examine into all cases of applicants 
for pensions and report upon them. 

With examinations indeed I had plenty to do 
throughout my sojourn at Potsdam. All candidates 
for school appointments who had not been trained at 
the seminary had to be examined by me, and the 
other masters and I had to report on their qualifica- 
tions. This was no pleasant task, for when I could 
not give a laudatory report, which unfortunately was 
frequently the case, I made myself enemies. In 
addition to this, books were often sent to me by the 
Royal Ministry in order that I might give my 
opinion as to their worth for school purposes. 

Thus there was no lack of work, and I often 
wondered how I managed to get through so much. 
But all these various occupations brought me in no 
extra gain, while they prevented me from under- 
taking any geographical work, and obliged me to 
give up several literary plans ; and I found it impos- 
sible to keep within my income. Under these cir- 
cumstances I was compelled on the 17th of October 
to apply to the Royal Government for an advance 
payment of 300 thalers. My request was granted, 
and moreover the Government of its own accord 
applied for me to the Minister von Altenstein, who 
accorded me an extraordinary gratuity of another 
300 thalers. This was a great help to me. 



CHAPTER XXYT. 

[Opening of the school for artisans and of Von Turk's Orphan Asylum— A. 
friendship formed by the author with Rothe, Franke's foreman — They 
perform chemical experiments together — Accident caused by a hitherto 
unknown property of pyrophorus — Offer of the directorship of the 
burgher- school at Magdeburg — Decides to remain in Potsdam on account 
of its Ticinity to Berlin — Value of the intellectual advantages of that 
city — Pleasant journeys to and from it — Expedition in company with 
Franke to Saxony and Bohemia — Visit to an old Berlin friend, Dr. 
Krause, in Dresden — Musical performances of his daughter — A new 
style of pianoforte — Journey continued through Saxon Switzerland — 
Prague — Return to Dresden by water, in company with a Berlin family — 
Obliged by the rain to land at a village called Rongstock — A merry host 
and hilarious guests — Return to Potsdam — Application for an increase of 
salary.] 

POURING the month of November I was busily 
-^ occupied with preparations for the school for 
artisans ; for I had been commissioned to set it on 
foot, to undertake the management of it, and also 
to give instruction in it. It was opened on the 2nd 
of January, 1822. Redtel, councillor of building to 
the administration, had the oversight. Herr von 
Turk's Orphan Asylum was opened on the same 
day, and I undertook to assist in the direction and 
management of this institution also. 

On the 21st of February I was made an honorary 
member of the Potsdam Musical Union. At this 



248 THE SELF- MADE MAN. 

time I was occupied in revising, at the request of 
the author and for a new edition of the book, several 
new sections of W. von Turk's " Guide to the Treat- 
ment of Instruction in Morphology and the Theory 
of Magnitudes." I found many alterations to make. 
There was a young man of the name of Rothe 
working as foreman in Franke's shop, who often came 
to see me, especially on Sundays. We delighted in 
making chemical experiments together, and our con- 
versation almost always turned on chemical matters. 
I was very fond of the young man and always enjoyed 
his society. One day he brought me a bottle, con- 
taining a small quantity of a black powder. Kastner, 
in one of his publications, had given a receipt for 
the preparation of a new pyrophorus (a powder which 
takes fire on exposure to the air), and Rothe had 
made one according to the directions. "It is ad- 
mirable," he said, "the best I have ever seen;" and 
he opened the bottle and shook out some of the 
powder, which fell to the earth like burning saw-dust. 
" I have not time," he continued, " to stay longer to- 
day, but I shall come again in a week, and then we 
will repeat the experiment. Until then preserve the 
powder carefully." I placed the well-corked bottle 
in the oven (it was then summer), where it could not 
do any harm. At the end of a week Rothe came 
again. I had not looked at the bottle since his last 
visit — indeed, I had forgotten all about it. I now 



A NEW CHEMICAL AGENT. 249 

took it out of the oven, and Rotlie shook some of the 
powder on to a sheet of paper. This time, however, 
it remained black. We went to the window, to 
examine it more closely. "What a pity!" exclaimed 
Rothe, " the powder must all have taken fire when 
the bottle was first opened, and burnt itself out in 
the bottle." This seemed to me the probable ex- 
planation. Suddenly, however, Rothe breathed upon 
it, and at once it burst into flame. Rothe started 
back, and fell on the ground ; I was turning to assist 
him, when I saw the window-curtains all in a blaze. 
I tore them down as fast as I could, and then 
hastened to Rothe's side. His face was dreadfully 
burnt. I applied every remedy I could think of to 
alleviate the pain, but it was six weeks before the 
wound was healed. This property of a pyrophorus 
had hitherto been quite unknown. Most likely there 
were fine grains of aluminium mixed with the powder, 
and these, on coming in contact with clamp air, had 
exploded and been scattered all about, for all the 
objects near the spot where we had stood were 
covered with little round marks, as if they had been 
pierced with small shot : the curtains, the window- 
sill, the silk lining of our hats, which stood on the 
chest of drawers, the chest of drawers itself, our 
clothes, and, above all, Rothe's face and head. 
Although I was standing by his side, and my face 
was close to his, I sustained no further injury than 



250 THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

the loss of a few hairs on the left side of my head. 
We had reason to • congratulate ourselves that the 
accident had not been more serious, and especially 
that Rothe's eyes had escaped injury ; but no blame 
attached to us, for an unknown danger cannot be 
avoided. My wife was so terrified at the moment of 
the explosion that she threw open the window and 
screamed out, "Fire!" I drew her forcibly back, 
and luckily her cry of alarm had not reached far, 
but I had some difficulty in quieting her. 

On the 6th of August I received a letter from the 
chief councillor of administration, Dr. Joh. Schulze, 
offering me the directorship of the higher burgher- 
school at Magdeburg. This appointment had a fixed 
income of a thousand thalers, besides a fine roomy 
house, and the director might, if he liked, take 
boarders. As, however, there was a certain prospect 
that my salary at Potsdam would very soon be raised 
to the same sum, and I did not wish to go further 
away from Berlin, I rejected the offer. The intel- 
lectual advantages of Berlin were of immense value 
to me. I used generally to go there once in three 
months, and most often by the Journaliere, a public 
conveyance then in use. It was always a great delight 
to me when I found myself the only passenger in it. At 
such times, while giving the rein to my thoughts, the 
rattling of the carriage-wheels would seem to me 
transformed into the most exquisite symphonies — not 



PLEASANT TALKS. 251 

disjointed, but in full connected flow, and with 
splendid transitions and wonderful variations. I 
could hear each separate instrument come in, and I 
have often wished that I had been able at once to 
write down what I heard so distinctly in my mind. 
But unfortunately the full-toned music went by too 
quickly, and at the utmost I could only have 
arrested a few detached melodies. 

During the dog-days I accompanied Franke again, 
under favourable conditions for myself, on a journey 
to Saxony and Bohemia. At Juterbogk we picked 

up M and drove thence by diligence to Dresden, 

which town I now saw for the first time. But we 
only remained there one day. We then drove through 
the valley of Plauen to the lovely Tharand. Our 
old Berlin acquaintance, Prof. Dr. Krause, and his 
daughter, had taken a summer residence at the baths 
here, and to see and talk with him again was Franke's 
most ardent desire. We found him at home alone, 
and he received us in a most friendly manner. Our 
conversation ranged rapidly over a variety of topics. 
We talked of philosophy, of pasigraphy (on which 
subject Krause wished to clear his ideas), of free- 
masonry, of theology (in which sphere his notions 
were very free, and did not altogether please me), 
and of the different kinds of music. Operatic 
music, he said, was his favourite style. He then 
praised the vocal powers of his daughter, who 



2%2 TtfM SELF-MADE MAM. 

was walking up and down on the lawn in front 
of the house with a young man with whom she 
seemed to be on intimate terms. He called her in 
through the window and presented her to us as a 
singer who had been taught by him alone according 
to the laws of the strictest Italian school. He made 
her perform a series of shakes and then sing an 
Italian air, and he told us that she had a prospect 
of becoming shortly an opera singer. She was not 
pretty, had not at all a good figure, and altogether 
there was very little that was attractive about her. 
Her voice, too, was by no means remarkable, though 
she sang with a great deal of execution. Krause told 
us that he had had a pianoforte made of which the 
keys were all of the same length and exactly alike. 
This, he said, was a great advantage, as it enabled 
one to play with the same fingering in every key. 
He was obliged, he continued, to go into the town 
early in the morning, but if we would pay him a 
visit there he would play something to us on this 
piano. Accordingly the next morning we betook 
ourselves to his town residence, where the whole 
family was assembled. His apartments were very 
small and badly ventilated, the furniture wretched, 
the wife and numerous children ill-dressed and 
miserable-looking — altogether it was a picture 
of poverty. Krause played to us on the above- 
mentioned instrument with great skill, and then 



BATTLE GRAVES. 253 

accompanied us back to our lodgings. He gave me a 
treatise on conic sections, which we had discussed 
together. We could not at all reconcile the appear- 
ance of utter poverty which the family abode pre- 
sented with the elegant air of the summer residence. 
This visit left a very unpleasant impression on our 
minds. 

We then made an expedition through the part of 
Saxon Switzerland which borders on the Elbe, from 
the Liebethal valley to Schandau, and afterwards re- 
turned to Dresden. From Dresden we drove by 
Peterswald to Teplitz. The view from the Rollen- 
dorf height is ravishingly beautiful ; the village, 
which had suffered a great deal from the battle of 
Kulm, had only been partly rebuilt. At Nieder- 
Arbesau we got down from the carriage, as Franke had 
undertaken to make inquiries concerning the grave 
of Colonel Von Roeder, a Prussian officer, who had 
fallen at the battle of Kulm, and was buried near this 
village. We were directed to the grave, and found 
it carefully enclosed and well kept. All along the 
road, but especially at Kulm, there were abundant 
traces of the battle, though much had already been 
restored. At length we reached Teplitz, and took 
rooms at the Topfersclienlce. We made ourselves 
acquainted with the town, its baths and springs, its 
principal sights and its environs, and the second 
day we dined at the salon. The music there was 



254 THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

performed by a man and his two children, a boy and 
a girl, who sat on the balcony and sang in turn. Here 
we heard for the first time the then brand-new song, 
"'s ist mir Alles Eins" ("It's all the same to me"). 
From Teplitz we went by diligence to Prague, where 
we arrived at dusk. This imposing city interested us 
greatly both within and without. The third day we 
went by Lobositz to Aussig, where we hired a small 
boat, having agreed to travel back to Dresden by water. 
A Berlin family, of the name of Schwendy, had just 
arrived from Teplitz with the same intention, and 
they asked permission to join our party, to which 
request we all consented. The father, a manufacturer, 
was a cheerful man, his wife was very lively and 
merry, and there were three children, of ages from 
eight to thirteen. We loosed our boat and set off. 
The sky was very much overcast, which lessened 
the picturesque effect of the wondrously beautiful 
banks of the Elbe; nevertheless the sublimity and 
grotesqueness of the scenery called forth our con- 
tinuous admiration. Towards midday, however, 
steady rain set in, and the air became very chilly. 
We had none of us dined, and we began to consider 
whether it would not be well to stop at one of the 
villages on the river and get some coffee. But the 
boatmen said it was of no use to stop, for we should 
not be able to get refreshments anywhere. Towards 
three o'clock, however, the rain came down in such 



A PLEASANT PROSPECT ! 255 

torrents that they changed their minds. We could not 
see two hundred steps before us. We landed at the 
nearest village, Rongstock, on the left bank, and ran, 
dripping, to the inn, where we ordered some coffee. 
The village schoolmaster, who happened to come in, 
assured us that there was no chance of our being able 
to continue our journey that day, for that when once 
the clouds settled themselves between the mountains 
they remained iixed as if they were walled in. This 
was a pleasant prospect ! There was only one avail- 
able room in the inn, and that a very small and un- 
inviting one, for this was an out-of-the-way place, 
and strangers seldom visited it. Our arrival would 
probably be recorded as a remarkable event in the 
annals of Rongstock. The schoolmaster, however, 
told us that further up the village there lived an old 
man who sometimes took in strangers as a favour, 
and he might, perhaps, be willing to receive us. 
We drank our coffee hastily, inviting the school- 
master to join us, and then begged him to be so 
kind as to conduct Frank e and me to the old man's 
house. It was still raining hard, and part of the 
way we had to climb up a villainous path. The 
place was a regular mountain village, the road 
very uneven, and the wet clay soil full of rough 
boulders. At length we came to a stone bridge 
leading across a rushing stream to the foot of a hill, 
on which stood a pretty rustic cottage. This, our 



2$6 THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

guide said, was the house he had spoken of. Its 
owner was a tall old man, with snow-white hair, but 
hale and cheerful, and he talked extremely well. He 
was ready to receive us with pleasure, was delighted 
at such a break in the monotony of his life, and in- 
sisted on our establishing ourselves at once under his 
roof, while the schoolmaster went back to fetch the 
rest of the party. The boatmen were to remain at 
the inn, and our fellow-travellers soon joined us. Our 
host was an old bachelor, and lived here alone with 
his housekeeper. In his youth he had resided at 
Berlin, and he now kept a druggist's shop for the 
village, and had a large store of drugs in his cellar. 
He set before us some of his home-made wine, which 
tasted very pure and good, bread and butter, and 
goat cheese — all most excellent. When the rain began 
to abate a little, the schoolmaster invited us to go 
and see the church, which was near by. He took us 
inside it, and led us up to the chancel to see the 
musical instruments on which the peasants performed 
when mass was celebrated. In other respects it did 
not differ from other village churches in Catholic 
countries. On our way back to the old man's 
house I climbed up a hill with the schoolmaster in 
order to get a clearer sight of the heavens than was 
possible from the valley below. The view of the 
country round was circumscribed, as this hill was 
closely surrounded by others of a greater height. 



A MERRY PARTY. 25; 

Whilst we were standing gazing, darkness came on, 
and the rain became heavier again. We descended 
the hill, and, once more drenched to the skin and 
in a very mnddy condition, we reached our merry 
host's. The latter had in the meanwhile made great 
friends with our lady travelling companion, and in- 
sisted on her having some more coffee ; and when we 
came in again a fresh supply was ordered for us. It 
was no use for us to protest, we were compelled to 
drink it, and our host wittily remarked that we should 
fare very badly in Bohemia if we were Protestants. 
The coffee, like everything else, was delicious, and 
the kind old man had actually managed to procure 
some newly -baked cakes. In a short time we went 
back to the wine, which all the party pronounced ex- 
cellent, especially with the goat-cheese. Our lavish 
host had one great canful after another brought up 
for our consumption, and in course of time the whole 
company, down to the children, began to grow un- 
commonly merry. The children fell to singing and 
dancing, and the elders joined in ; the songs then 
alternated with comic anecdotes, one joke followed 
another, and the laughter was unceasing. Although 
the wine-glasses had not had a moment's rest, and 
though the guests had all displayed astounding appe- 
tites, as the holes in the bread and the cheese testified, 
our host was not yet satisfied, but must needs order 
a great bowl of punch to be prepared. A few of the 
VOL. 11. s 



258 THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

neighbours came in, and the noise became madder 
than ever. . I took good care not to meddle with the 
punch-bowl, for I had already had more wine than 
enough, and I attribute it entirely to the great purity 
of the article that I was not the worse for what I 
had taken. At length midnight came, and the 
question of going to bed was discussed. But here 
great difficulties presented themselves. There was 
only one bed at our disposal, and this of course was 
made over to the lady. Couches were arranged in 
the same room for her husband and children, but for 
Franke and me there was no better accommodation 
than a barn. We wandered off to it in the dark, 
closed the door as firmly as possible, and laid ourselves 
down in the straw. But what with the ceaseless 
patter of the rain-drops falling from the roof, and the 
noise of the mice we had disturbed in their haunts, 
sleep was out of the question. The worst evil, how- 
ever, was the cold of the damp night air, and towards 
three o'clock we resolved to get up and walk about to 
warm our feet. But when we went out it was still 
raining and pitch dark, so we walked up to the house 
and crouched down in the passage, not liking to 
disturb the sleepers. We were not much better off 
here, and it seemed a very long time before day began 
to break, and then we had to wait till six o'clock to 
be let into the room. Our coffee, when at last it 
came, was very welcome to us. In the morning the 



INSUFFICIENT INCOME. 259 

sky was still cloudy, but the rain had ceased • and so 
we gave orders that our boat should be got ready to 
start, and after a bountiful breakfast we took leave of 
our hospitable host, who could not be prevailed on to 
accept any remuneration. We bestowed a Friedrichs 
d'or on his housekeeper, however, and after paying 
at the inn for the board and lodging of the boatmen, 
we went down to the river bank and embarked. We 
now pursued our course along the Elbe without any 
difficulty, passing the most beautiful regions of Bohe- 
mian and Saxon Switzerland, and towards evening we 
reached Dresden, where we parted from our friendly 
travelling companions. From Dresden we drove by 
diligence to Berlin, and thence to Potsdam, where we 
arrived safe and sound. 

I had now been five years in office at the seminary, 
and was still in receipt of the same income as at 
starting. It seemed to me therefore not unbecoming 
to apply for an increase of salary, and accordingly on 
the 30th of November I wrote to the Ministry and 
laid my case urgently before them. In my position 
it was quite impossible to make my present income 
suffice. 



s 2 



CHAPTER XXVII. 

[The author prepares for publication a work on the formation of the earth — 
Receives another gratuity from the Royal Council — His conduct of the 
seminary approved by his superiors — Success of the students — Happy 
family relations — " To God be the glory " — A dark storm-cloud in the 
horizon — Progress of the " old German " party — Secret associations — 
The author opposed to youths interfering in politics — A central board 
for examining into demagogical intrigues — Commissioners appointed at 
the universities to watch over unauthorized societies — The " old German " 
costume forbidden to all officials and schoolmasters — Herr Beckedorf 
appointed to reform the state seminaries — He goes the round of them — 
His character and manners — Visits Potsdam — The author is informed 
of a proposal to establish a Gewe?'be-school in Berlin, and is sounded as to 
his willingness to accept the charge of it — Publication of his book — 
Receives a formal offer of the directorship of the new school — Expresses 
his willingness on certain conditions — His conditions accepted — A letter 
from the Ministry requiring changes in the seminary — Remarks on the 
proposed new arrangements — He sees that the period of his usefulness at 
the seminary is over — Formal appointment as director of the Gewerbe- 
scbool.] 

TT7E were entering on the year 1823. Already for 
' * some time past I had been revolving in my mind 
theories of my own as to the manner in which the 
earth, its continents and seas, had formed themselves. 
I had pondered over the matter for a long time, made 
numbers of drawings, put my ideas down on paper, 
and tested them in every direction to find out how 
far they coincided with known phenomena and ex- 
periences. I now applied myself to working out my 



AN AUTHOR. 261 

ideas in detail ; showed how, according to my belief, 
the earth had been gradually developed into its 
present condition, and drew the necessary illustrations, 
Hoffmann, who after leaving Schropp's house of 
business had- set up a warehouse in Berlin for 
geographical, musical, and literary works, undertook 
to publish my book. It was printed during the cur- 
rent year, and I attended to the correction of the 
proofs myself, as indeed I did with all my works. It 
appeared with the following title, " Ground-lines of a 
New Theory of the Formation of the Earth : by K. F. 
Kloclen," &c. A work of this kind can never lay claim 
to universal recognition, for it is by its very nature 
nothing more than hypothetical, and is too far 
dependent on the fluctuating position of scientific 
knowledge to enjoy more than a temporary fame. 
Although the book met on the whole with a very 
favourable reception, it had no important influence 
on the course of science. 

I had still a good deal to do in connection with the 
Civil Orphan Asylum. For instance, by the 1st of 
April I had to prepare a review of the system of 
musical instruction in the institution, and tasks of a 
similar nature often fell to my share. At the begin- 
ning of the year I received from the Royal Council 
a gratuity of thirty-five thalers. The council had 
also supported my petition for an increase of salary, 
and sent in proposals respecting the matter ; and on 



262 THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

the 5th of March the secretary of the Royal Ministry 
of clerical, educational, and medical affairs wrote to 
the Potsdam council to the following effect: That the 
Ministry considered my application for an increase of 
salary quite reasonable, and thought an improvement 
of my position very desirable, but that they did not 
at present see their way to proceeding in the manner 
which had been suggested by the council. " In order, 
however, to render temporary assistance to the said 
Kloden, and to give this able and zealous man a 
proof of their appreciation of his faithful and energetic 
services, the Ministry had great pleasure in granting 
him, both for the past and the current year, an extra- 
ordinary remuneration of 200 thalers, i. e. 400 thalers 
in all, which the Treasury was directed to pay," &c. 
This was announced to me by the Royal Council in a 
highly complimentary letter. Such manifold tokens 
of the favour of my superior officials, and the ex- 
pressed assurance of their satisfaction with my zeal 
and services, did my heart good and spurred me on 
to even greater exertions. If, in addition to this, one 
considers that I enjoyed, in a pre-eminent degree, the 
good-will of the chief president of the administration 
at Potsdam, Herr von Bassewitz ; that the chief con- 
sistorial councillor Nolte, at Berlin, under whose 
direction the seminary was, and who attended all the 
examinations and frequently went over the institution, 
was my especial patron; that Meyer, privy chief- 



A BEAUTIFUL LIFE. . 263 

councillor of administration at Potsdam, prized my 
services no less, and often came to the seminary to 
refresh himself with the sight of the eager enthusiastic 
life there; that other members also of the administra- 
tion, such as the councillor of consistory Klotz, the 
councillors of administration Redtel and Appelius, 
the directors of administration Von Brenn and Weil, 
and many more, gave me the most unmistakable 
proofs of their favour and appreciation; and that 
Herr von Ttirk, who came almost daily to the seminary, 
assisted at the lessons, inspected the works of the 
seminarists, and looked into the most trifling details, 
remained to the last my friend, — I shall readily be 
believed when I say that all the officials connected 
with the seminary, from the highest to the lowest, 
were thoroughly satisfied with the organization and 
management of it. Many pleasant social relations 
resulted from my position of favour with the above- 
named gentlemen, and with Herren von Basse witz 
and Nolte especially I had a great deal of friendly 
intercourse and was always welcome at their table. 
The life both of the seminary and the school was 
orderly and beautiful. My seminarists felt themselves 
transplanted as it were to a better world, and showed 
unmistakable proofs of their love for me. I was often, 
it is true, obliged to punish, and at times even severely; 
but the young people knew that I did so unwillingly 
and never unjustly. Of those who were already 



264 THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

placed out the most favourable reports flowed in from 
their clergymen and patrons, and the demands on the 
institution were far beyond what it could satisfy. As 
a rule the seminarists could command the best posts. 
Throughout the town I stood in high estimation. My 
circle of friends, though small, was peculiarly hearty. 
My family was happy and prosperous. Without pre- 
sumption I might truly say to myself: " God's grace 
and goodness have made you the instrument of much 
good. To Him be the glory, for all that you possess 
is the gift of His grace. Unless the judgment of the 
high officials, the judgment of all those excellent men 
who are befriending you, is mistaken, you cannot be 
on the wrong road. Go on diligently therefore in the 
same direction, never losing sight of your final goal, 
viz. the establishment of a rational system of education, 
which shall supply young men with all that they need 
for their happiness, both in this world and the next." 
The prospect held out to me of an increase of income 
quieted at the same time my anxieties regarding the 
future. 

And yet above the horizon of this serene sky a dark 
storm-cloud had for years been slowly gathering, and 
it was impossible to say at what moment it might 
discharge itself, and how in so doing it would affect 
me and my endeavours. Jahn, the energetic pro- 
moter of gymnastic exercises, had since the year 
1812, when he first introduced his system, gone on 



DARK CLOUDS. 265 

vigorously diffusing it throughout the greater part 
of Germany. The development of physical strength 
and agility was avowedly the primary object of the 
movement, but what at the time of its origin it really 
aimed at was the liberation of Germany from a foreign 
yoke, and the restoration of the fatherland to one 
united whole. The young men of the day took up 
this idea with enthusiasm, and there was a strong set 
towards a return to German thought and feeling, and 
the bringing back of German customs. Jahn's ad- 
herents formed themselves into a party, distinguished 
by the wearing of the so-called "old German costume," 
which at once proclaimed the opinions of those who 
adopted it. Though all this went on under the eyes 
of the French, the latter do not seem to have realized 
what it meant, but to have regarded the whole affair 
as a German whim. Nowhere was the gymnastic 
movement so extensive, nowhere did it take deeper 
root than in Prussia. The magistrates did not inter- 
fere with it, for every one looked forward to throwing 
off one day the yoke of the foreigners, and anything 
which was likely to advance this end met with 
general approval. 

And when, in 1813, the great moment of rising 
came, all this band of gymnasts, numbers of them 
mere beardless boys, hastened to join the army, burn- 
ing with youthful enthusiasm, and glorying in the 
thought that they were about to hazard their lives for 



266 THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

their king and their fatherland, and to fight for a 
happier future, — the enemy was conquered with a 
rapidity which seemed incredible, and by the help of 
the valiant gymnasts Germany was once more free. 
The first half of their great wish was thus accomplished, 
and with anxious longing they awaited the fulfilment 
of the second. But the Congress of Vienna struck 
the death-blow of their hopes. A Confederation took 
the place of a united kingdom, and everything was 
different from what had been dreamt of and hoped 
for. The youthful patriots, however, whose warlike 
spirit had been roused at the time of danger and need, 
whose valiant deeds had been commended, and who 
knew from personal intercourse of the great sacrifices 
which the people had made, felt themselves justified,in 
the pride of their valour, in proclaiming loudly their 
views and opinions. They had grown big with the 
thought of a great, united Germany ; everywhere this 
idea had awakened sympathetic response ; thousands 
of hearts were beating for it, and now, all at once, to 
give it up quietly was not easy ; indeed, to have done 
so would have seemed to these ardent youths like a 
betrayal of the righteous cause. Outwardly the unity 
of Germany had not been effected; the one great 
fatherland was still split up into fragments. Inwardly 
there were restrictions which were completely opposed 
to the youthful, though decidedly crude, conceptions 
of freedom which these young patriots had formed, 



SECRET ASSOCIATIONS. 267 

and which therefore seemed intolerable to them. 
The first public demonstration of these discontented 
spirits was made through the famous Wariburgsfeier 
of 1817. This in itself could have done little harm ; 
but they did not stop here. Excited enthusiasts as 
they were, they thought it their duty to go further, 
and in such overwrought brains imagination easily 
breeds mischief. In March, 1819, the gymnasium 
was closed, for there were rumours of secret associa- 
tions of a dangerous nature ; and indeed in that very 
month Sand committed his unhallowed deed — the 
murder of Kotzebue. This seemed to point to a very 
dangerous tendency of the times, and especially of 
the rising generation • and as the University of Jena 
had gained the reputation of being a favourite hot- 
bed of political agitation, the King forbade all his 
subjects from visiting it any more. Professor De 
Wette, of the Berlin University, in consequence of 
having expressed himself unguardedly in a letter to 
Sand's mother, was dismissed by his Majesty. 

From this time forth I set myself strongly against 
youths interfering in politics, of which as a rule they 
have no circumstantial knowledge and no experience. 
I never so much as touched on this subject with my 
pupils ; we had too many other matters to attend to 
which affected us more closely. But I should have 
been a bad discerner of the times had I imagined that 
I should long be allowed to continue in my then 



268 THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

comparatively unrestricted condition. Other regula- 
tions, I could not but foresee, would be made, 
professedly with the intention of merely destroying 
wild offshoots, but which would undoubtedly strike 
at the inmost kernel of the fresh and living school- 
system of Prussia. For there are always people at 
hand to point out the necessity for cutting deeper, 
and it cannot be denied that the most effectual way 
of getting rid of noxious outgrowths is by destroying 
the tree itself. When indeed was there ever a re- 
action in the world which did not go just as much too 
far as the previous action ? Mankind, alas, move on 
in a zigzag line between truth and error, sometimes 
approaching nearer to the one, sometimes to the other, 
and what seems to one man truth to another is too 
often error. Well does Luther compare the, world to 
a drunken man, who when he is put into his saddle 
on the one side falls off again on the other. Was I 
to blame, because, standing as I did at the head of an 
educational institution, which ramified widely into 
the education of the people, I looked forward with 
anxiety to the future? For myself indeed I had 
nothing to fear, but for the seminary much. The 
inquiries prosecuted, in consequence of the political 
agitations to which I have alluded, revealed that the 
latter had had a revolutionary, and partly indeed a 
treasonable tendency, and had taken the shape of 
demagogic associations, which were not merely asso- 



REVOLUTIONARY INTRIGUES. 269 

ciations of students. In the summer Jahn was tried 
and imprisoned, and a like fate befell many otherwise 
excellent young men of the cultivated classes, who 
had been mixed up in these intrigues. On the 20th 
of September, 1819, the Confederate Assembly made 
known the resolutions of the Carlsbad Congress. 
These related, amongst other matters, to the "improve- 
ment " of the schools and universities, to the system 
of censure, and to the establishment of a central board 
in Mainz, for examining into demagogical intrigues. 
The King at the same time appointed at all the 
universities commissioners, entrusted with full power, 



whose business it should be to enforce the strictest 
compliance with the existing laws and rules of dis- 
cipline, and to keep special watch over secret or 
unauthorized societies. He also published decrees 
concerning the future regulation of academic disci- 
pline and police authority at the universities. All 
these proceedings related to the highest scientific 
schools and colleges, but the lower ones could not 
long remain unnoticed. It was only a question of 
time. 

In February, 1820, the Berlin newspapers published 
extracts from the official examinations into the revolu- 
tionary intrigues of Germany. These extracts consisted 
chiefly of the utterances of gymnasts and school- 
masters, and, though in themselves insignificant, they 
served to show that a large portion of the young 



270 THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

manhood of Germany was busying itself with, ques- 
tions on which it had no means of forming a correct 
opinion. The town could not overlook such a state of 
things, for political like religious fanaticism grows 
most luxuriant in young hearts. The so-called " old 
German costume " was forbidden to all officials and 
schoolmasters. I had never worn it, and therefore 
lost nothing by this decree. Although there was 
every reason for expecting that the grammar-schools 
would be proceeded with in the same way as the 
universities, the measures taken with regard to them 
were in fact confined to regulations which were 
absolutely necessary for keeping the youths within 
proper bounds. The lower schools were left alone for 
the present ; but there was no lack of screamers, who, 
in public papers and brochures, cried out that the boys 
of the period were being taught a great deal too much ; 
that natural science was not wanted in schools ; that 
mathematics flourished best in dull heads ; and a great 
deal more to the same effect. Indeed it turned out 
that to many people such a schooling as I had passed 
through at Preussisch-Friedland was ideal. 

At length came the turn of the seminaries, and it 
was resolved that this question had best be handed 
over to the careful consideration of a ministerial 
councillor. On specially high recommendation the 
King took into his service Herr Beckedorf (later von 
Beckedorf) and placed him as Privy Chief Councillor 



EDUCATIONAL REFORM. 2/1 

of Administration in the Clerical Ministry. Herr 
Beckedorf, so report said, had first studied medicine 
and then become tutor to a prince, and had also, from 
private inclination, occupied himself, heart and soul, 
with theology in the orthodox spirit. He was an 
excellent man of business, a most energetic worker, 
and a polished and cultivated gentleman, and his per- 
sonal appearance was both imposing and agreeable. 
But he was filled with a sense of the corruption of the 
young men of the day, and thought he had discovered 
the cause of this corruption in the erroneous methods 
of education which were applied to them. He was 
consequently inclined to the adoption of narrowing 
regulations. To his direction was entrusted the reform 
of all the seminaries of the state. 

He began very judiciously by going the round of 
the seminaries and making himself acquainted with 
them through personal inspection. The Potsdam 
seminary he left till the last, coming there in April, 
1823, direct from Neu-Zelle in the Mederlausitz, a 
former Cistercian monastery which had only been 
abolished quite lately, and its buildings, churches, 
&c, given up to a seminary. With this place Herr 
Beckedorf had been very much pleased, as indeed he 
could not fail to be. The picturesque cloister build- 
ings made delightful dwelling-places and class-rooms, 
and the whole effect was at the same time grandiose 
and monastic. The director had taken up his abode in 



272 THE SELF-MADE MAN, 

the dwelling-place of the former abbot, and a pre- 
late's habitation is proverbially beautiful. Herr 
Beckedorf resided with the director during his stay 
at Neu-Zelle, and both men held pretty much the 
same opinions. The Potsdam seminary, which had 
formerly been a tobacco manufactory, must have 
cut a sorry figure in comparison. The seminarists' 
quarters were anything but attractive-looking. The 
rooms were low and dark, and there were only five 
for about sixty occupants. The largest of the 
rooms was shared by twenty of the seminarists, and 
they had between them five tables, twenty stools, ten 
chests of drawers, twenty trunks, and two pianofortes 
on which hung all the coats, violins, &c, which 
could not be got into the trunks. The tops of the 
chests of drawers too were covered with books, 
drawings, music, &c, for which there was not room 
inside. The floors of the rooms were in very bad 
condition, the windows very small, and however 
strict one might be about cleanliness and order, it 
was impossible, under the circumstances, to produce 
a pleasant and cheerful effect. No one could be 
charmed with these arrangements ; I certainly was 
not. Herr Beckedorf established himself in a hotel. 
From all that I had heard of him, and also from his 
remarks in conversation with me, I was prepared for 
his not entirely approving of my system of instruction. 
He was very friendly and polite, but I think we both 



A NEW ACQUAINTANCE. 273 

felt that our opinions diverged on important points. 
That alterations would be insisted on I foresaw plainly. 
With Runge, whose religious instruction classes Herr 
Beckedorf attended, he entered into a lively corre- 
spondence on theological matters and doctrines. I only 
saw isolated passages of his letters, but what I read 
was enough to show me not only how thoroughly re- 
ligion with him was a question of the inner life, how 
extensive his knowledge on the subject was, and how 
deeply he had thought on it, but also that his system, 
if carried out to its logical consequences, must inevi- 
tably lead to Roman Catholicism. I heard nothing 
definite with regard to the seminary for some time, 
although when I went to Berlin I called on Herr von 
Beckedorf, and was received by him in a very cordial 
manner. 

In October I received an invitation from Meyer, 
Privy Chief- Councillor of Administration at Potsdam, 
to spend an evening at his house. This was no unusual 
occurrence, but on this occasion there was only one 
other guest, a relation of Meyer's wife, Herr von 
Barensprung, Councillor and Burgomaster of Berlin. 
He was already known to me by reputation as a 
distinguished and energetic man of business, and I 
was very glad to make his acquaintance. His 
remarks on the great value of natural science and its 
important influence on industry met with my entire 
approval. We had a delightful conversation, and 

VOL. II. T 



274 THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

discovered that there was a great deal of sympathy 
between us. He came again the following week, and 
then told me that the communal authorities of 
Berlin had determined to found a higher school 
under the name of a Gewerbe-school, in which people 
employed in the higher class of industries might 
receive instruction in all those subjects connected 
with their occupations which they had not been able 
to study at the grammar or other schools. Special 
attention would be given to natural science. The 
plan and the estimates, he said, were all prepared, and 
the chief thing now was to find the necessary masters, 
and above all the one who would be at the head of 
the institution and chiefly instrumental in carrying 
out the idea. He added that he thought he had 
found in me the right man, and asked me if I was 
willing to undertake the post of head-master and 
director. The appointment would be worth the fixed 
income of 1,500 thalers, with free residence. There 
had already been numbers of applicants, but not 
one of them had satisfied him. 

The proposal seemed to me so advantageous, and 
the idea was so entirely in harmony with my senti- 
ments, that I expressed myself gladly willing to 
accept the offer and to devote my powers to such 
a worthy end. I did not conceal from myself that 
the undertaking would be a difficult one to carry out, 
and would entail an immense amount of labour, but I 



A PROPOSED NEW SPHERE. 275 

had already conquered many a difficulty, and I was 
not afraid of work. Moreover I was assured that 
what Herr von Barensprung made up his mind to, he 
always went through with, and that he had a genius 
for overcoming obstacles. He told me that I might 
reckon confidently on his support, for that this school 
would be his pet child, and he should consider 
himself as the author of its existence. Under these 
circumstances I felt no hesitation in agreeing to the 
proposal, and he promised to communicate with me 
further on the subject by letter. 

Meanwhile my work, entitled " Ground-lines of a 
New Theory of the Formation of the Earth," had 
been published. I sent a copy of it to the Minister 
Von Altenstein, and received from him a highly com- 
plimentary letter of thanks. On the 7th of November 
I received a letter from the committee for the esta- 
blishment of the Gewerbe-sohoo\ informing me of 
their desire that I would undertake the office of head- 
master and director of this institution, to which a 
salary of 1,500 thalers was attached, besides a free 
residence and a share in the examination and entrance 
fees. On the 16th of November I sent in my reply, 
and declared myself willing to accept the appoint- 
ment under the following conditions : — 

1. That in the possible event of the school being dissolved 
under Section 16 of the statute, I should still retain the same 

T 2 



276 THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

income and residence, while the Commune should be free to 
employ me in any other way that was in accordance with my 
tastes. But that in case of my being disabled, either by age or 
illness, from further work, a pension should be granted to me 
according to the municipal regulations. 

2. That in the event of my dying before my wife, I might be 
able to count on her receiving a widow's pension, as I had entered 
the service of the State before the latest regulations with reg-ard 
to this matter had been published. I should be glad also to have 
an assurance from the municipal authorities of Berlin that they 
would not neglect my widow, but the fixing of the sum I would 
leave to the board. 

3. Owing to the quantity of books and other objects in my 
possession, the change of residence would entail considerable 
expense. In Potsdam I had received a quarterly allowance for 
this purpose ; I begged that it might be granted to me at Berlin 
also. 

4. I should be glad to know whether my residence would be 
comfortable and roomy, as in Potsdam I had nothing to " wish 
for in this respect. 

5. I wished for closer information with regard to the relations 
of the school to the Royal Consistory and Ministry. 

6. I was bound to give six months' notice at Potsdam, and, 
according to the rules, I could only do so at Easter or Michaelmas. 
I hoped, however, that my notice might be accepted on New 
Year's Day, in which case I should be able to leave at Mid- 
summer. 

7. That the obligation not to accept any side office should not 
be extended to literary work, and that the condition of not 
amassing any collections should not include books and maps, a 
few astronomical instruments, &c. My collection of minerals, 
fossils, and physical instruments I offered for sale to the Gewerbe- 
school, for I was obliged to part with them, and by private sale 
there was risk of great loss. 

I sent in this memorandum on the 16th of Novem- 
ber, and all my conditions were accepted. 

At last came a letter from the Ministry relating to 



LOWERING THE STANDARD. 277 

th e arrangements of the seminary, and, as I had ex- 
pected, great changes were required to be made. I 
will give here in brief the principal points of the 
rescript : — 



1. The training of the seminary shall be specially adapted to 
country schoolmasters. 

2. In view of this, distinction shall be made between branches 
of learning which are essential and others which are only desir- 
able. The essential branches are : — (1) Religion, which must be 
taught thoroughly. (2) German, thoroughly, according to all 
the subdivisions, and so that the seminarists may be able to 
think logically and exemplify the laws of thought in language. 
(3) Arithmetic, not going beyond the ordinary reckoning which 
is used in every-day life. (4) Calligraphy and music, with special 
attention to singing. A few hours may be devoted to natural 
history, but care must be taken not to excite a passion for it. It 
belongs, like history, geography, and morphology, to the unneces- 
sary subjects. 

3. Algebra, geometry with surveying, and natural philosophy 
can be left out entirely for the present ; but nevertheless, if the 
masters are willing, these subjects may be taught to specially 
zealous scholars, apart from the rest and in extra hours. 

4. It must be distinctly kept in mind that as a rule the social 
position of a country schoolmaster is a very humble and straitened 
one, and that consequently those who are to occupy such positions 
must not be educated up to the conceit that they are too good or 
too well instructed for their parts — a conceit which is very apt 
to grow up in people who are only half taught. The aim of the 
seminary must be to train a number of country schoolmasters, 
who shall not afterwards exact more from their pupils or from 
their outward position than the existing state of things warrants 
their doing. 

5. Sobriety and order, both in the conduct of the seminarists 
and in their rooms, must be strictly insisted on ; and for the 
future they must be required to clean their rooms and make their 
beds themselves. (I was to prepare a written plan for the carrying 



278 THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

out of the regulations with regard to the domestic arrangements 
of the institution.) 

6. Finally, I was instructed to draw up on these principles two 
plans of instruction : the one for three classes, with four teachers, 
and yearly admission and dismissal of pupils ; the other for two 
classes, with three teachers, and triennial courses. 

With regard to these most incisive resolutions I 
must make a few remarks. 

1st. It was of course the business of the Ministry 
to determine the character of the seminary, but then 
they were quite mistaken as to the requirements 
which it had to fulfil. The Potsdam seminary only 
supplied one-third of the schoolmasters of the pro- 
vince; of the remaining two-thirds, one came from 
the private seminary of the school inspector Frosch, 
at Gross-Bahnitz, and the other consisted of school 
inspectors and clergymen. The Potsdam seminarists 
were better prepared than any others, and therefore 
they received of right the best posts, which were 
generally those in towns. Now, the town appoint- 
ments formed one-sixth of the whole number in the 
province, and if all these were filled by the Potsdam 
seminary (as indeed was the case at that time), only 
half of my seminarists were available for village 
schools. Thus the seminary was half a town seminary, 
and if the training was to be specially adapted to 
country schoolmasters the requirements of the pro- 
vincial towns would remain unprovided for, and 
moreover, the seminarists would not be fitted for 



A HOPELESS IDEA, 2^ 

the best appointments, by which means both the 
province and the seminary would lose. Resolution 1 
was therefore very questionable. 

2ndly and 3rdly. A distinction had always been 
made between essential and non-essential subjects, and 
to the subjects mentioned in Resolution 2 as essential 
I had always devoted the most time ; but I had added 
mathematics to the list on account of its valuable 
influence in forming the power of logical thought ; 
an influence which has been acknowledged ever since 
the time of Plato. This end Was now to be accom- 
plished by the critical study of the German language. 
A hopeless idea ! People will never learn to think 
logically from being taught to speak grammatically 
and accurately, but when they have learnt to think 
accurately they will also be able to speak well. The 
laws of thought can only be exemplified in a language 
when the speakers have learnt to think logically in 
that language — not before. Geometry was now no 
longer to be taught, and thus one of the most effectual 
means of cultivation was cut off. However unneces- 
sary this subject may be for ordinary country-people, 
I am nevertheless convinced that it is essential to the 
schoolmaster, who ought to know more and be better 
educated than his pupils ; and, moreover, it is the 
branch of learning which is the least likely to be 
abused. Then as to natural history, to which only a 
few hours were to be devoted, and which was to be 



28o THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

taught in such a way that no passion for the subject 
was excited ! How, indeed, was this result to be 
guarded against? " How glorious are the works of 
the Lord ! He that considereth them hath great 
delight therein." This was felt even in remote 
antiquity. Only by teaching people not to consider 
the works of the Lord can they be preserved from 
taking delight in them, and how this was to be 
managed I could not tell. It came in fact to this, 
that natural history was to be left out altogether, and 
this seemed to me monstrous in the case of people 
who had to live almost entirely in the country. If 
nothing further was gained by instilling into them a 
love of nature than that they preferred a walk in the 
fields and forests to a visit to the ale-house, found 
greater attraction in the beauties of nature than in a 
game of cards, this would be no small matter. But 
the question has often been asked, how one is to set 
about acquainting country-people with all the number- 
less improvements in agriculture and husbandry which 
have resulted from the progress of natural science ? 
how they are to be cured of the pernicious prejudices 
which are the consequence of ignorance of the laws 
of nature, and how all the hard-won knowledge which 
lies as dead capital in books is to be carried into 
practice and made to yield interest for actual life ? 
And the answer has invariably been that this can 
only be done through the medium of schoolmasters. 



SUPERFICIAL EDUCATION, 281 

Schoolmasters therefore should be trained in such a 
manner as to be fit for this work. I had considered 
it my duty to work energetically towards this end ; 
but I must do so no more. Whether natural science 
is less necessary or useful for country-people than all 
the rules of the German language is well worth con- 
sidering. To me, at any rate, it seems, looking at 
the matter practically, that it is more essential for 
them to be able to tell the difference between hemlock 
and parsley, between darnel and English rye-grass, to 
know what plants are useful as fodder for cattle, to 
understand why the oven must not be closed too soon, 
and why, as is very often done, a fire should not be 
made on the hearth when there is a storm, &c. &c, 
than to know that Voter is written with a great V, or 
that fur governs the accusative. Ignorance on the 
latter points would at the utmost excite laughter, 
while in the other cases it might endanger human 
lives. However, the one might have been taught 
without neglecting the other. 

4thly. Just because half or superficially educated 
people are apt to be conceited, I had tried to edu- 
cate the seminarists more than half. But by nar- 
rowing the curriculum as they intended to do, the 
council rendered anything but a half or superficial 
education out of the question. A complete education 
means something more than one-sided instruction, 
especially when that instruction is confined to elemen- 



2%2 THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

tary principles. It is, moreover, a great mistake to 
imagine that people who are aware of being only half 
educated are contented. If we wish to have con- 
tented people we cannot do better than foster conceit, 
for conceited people are at any rate satisfied with 
themselves. There is no one, however, who does not 
make higher demands on outward circumstances than 
can be fulfilled, and it is just this hope of bettering 
one's position that spurs one on to exertion. And as 
to the schoolmasters not making greater demands on 
their pupils than the existing state of things war- 
ranted, what could be more unreasonable ? The 
existing state of things is always one which may be 
improved, and therefore ought not to be the standard 
of what is desirable. All education, all teaching, has 
for its object to bring about a better state of things 
than the existing one. If Resolution 4 was intended 
to convey a different meaning, it was at any rate not 
happily worded. 

5thly. What was the particular advantage of the 
seminarists sweeping their rooms and making their 
beds themselves, instead of this being done as hitherto 
by an old woman, I could not exactly see. The 
regulation could not have been made for the sake of 
economy, for in the Military Orphan Asylum the 
practice had actually been discontinued because the 
children spoilt their clothes in doing this work. 
Neither was it for the sake of training, for when the 



AN END TO USEFULNESS. 283 

seminarists were placed in situations they could always 
find old women to attend to these matters for them, 
and if they wished to save their money they could do 
their own housework themselves without having been 
trained as housemaids at the seminary. It was stated 
in the resolution that this rule had been found very 
useful and beneficial in other institutions of the 
kingdom. I was at a loss to understand it then, and 
so I am now. 

I could not acknowledge that these new regulations 
were improvements on the old ones, and I should 
have been false to myself, false to all that I had 
learnt of good and true in a life rich in experiences, 
had I done so. Opinions such as these I could not 
adopt as my own. I saw plainly that my period of 
usefulness at the seminary was over, and if I had not 
already decided to go to Berlin I should now imme- 
diately have done so. 

The difference between human beings is great, 
and consequently also the difference in their views. 
Truth, indeed, is only one ; but it is imaged diffe- 
rently in every different mind. It receives in each 
a distinct alloy, or more correctly, perhaps, a dis- 
tinct colouring, which is dependent on the talents, 
the acquirements, the characters, the experiences of 
the individual ; and because another man cannot see 
things as I see them, or I cannot see as he sees, we 
are neither of us necessarily to blame. There were 



284 THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

plenty of people who looked upon Beckedorf's reign 
as a time of blessing for the seminary, though I 
thought very differently. His ideas concerning edu- 
cation were too one-sided for me, and were founded 
on premises to which I could not agree. How- 
ever, he had the power in his own hands, and I 
cannot blame him if he used it to carry out his own 
views, for I am convinced that he thought he was 
working for the best. We read in the Bible that 
" God made man after His own image," and man on 
his part, wherever he has to teach or to educate, 
seeks to imitate his Creator in this respect, and to 
exercise a creative influence over those under his 
control. There is no schoolmaster who does not seek 
to stamp his own image on his pupils, and for this 
reason those who owe their education to one energetic 
teacher only are generally distinguished by decision 
of character ; whereas those who have been taught 
by several different masters acquire a more universal 
character, but also a more vacillating one. There is 
no school-official who does not, if even unconsciously, 
strive after this same object. Beckedorf sought to 
impress his character on his regulations, I mine on 
my organization ; but owing to his position he was 
able to make his influence felt in a larger circum- 
ference than was possible for me. 

On the 11th of December I was informed by Herr 
von Barensprung that I had been chosen director of the 



FORMAL APPOINTMENT. 285 

Gewerbe-school by the magistrate, and that the town 
council had agreed to the choice. I was to begin 
drawing my salary on the 1st of January, 1824, and 
at the same date pay the first quarterly instalment to 
the widows' fund. The sum of 200 thalers would be 
allowed me for the expenses of moving. I was further 
informed that the magistrate was not disinclined to 
buy my collection of minerals, and that its value 
would be estimated by an expert ; that every possible 
attention would be bestowed upon my residence; and 
that in the very improbable case of the school being 
dissolved, the magistrate would be willing to fulfil 
my conditions. I was requested to make my arrange- 
ments for removing to Berlin at Easter. 

On the 20th of December I informed the Potsdam 
council of my appointment, and asked for my dis- 
charge. In the case of its not being convenient for 
me to leave at Easter I requested that until Mid- 
summer-day I might be allowed to spend one day in 
the week at Berlin, which in the event of Herr 
Runge being appointed my successor would not be 
difficult to arrange. However, almost immediately 
afterwards Herr Runge received the appointment of 
councillor of administration and education at Brom- 
berg, and thus the two persons who had been most 
influential in determining the character of the Semi- 
nary left it almost at the same time. 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 

[Effect on the author's friends of the news of his removal to Berlin — His suc- 
cessor named — Herr Siivern's disappointment at the author's acceptance 
of the new office — He receives from the King the art and science gold 
medal for his work on the formation of the earth — Discussions as to the 
site of the Gewerbe-sohool — Offence given by the author's memorandum 
as to the future arrangements of the school — Yon Barensprung meditates 
founding another institution of a similar nature — He proposes to use the 
Kollnisch school for this purpose — The author accepts the directorship of 
it — Purchases an annuity for his wife — Undertakes the arrangement of a 
natural history collection for Potsdam grammar-school — His services 
thankfully recognized by the Royal Consistory — A Masonic jubilee — 
Farewell entertainments and visits at Potsdam — Removal to Berlin — 
Reflections on the close of another life-epoch.] 

fT^HE news of my approaching transfer to Berlin 
-*- came upon my friends, I may truly say, like a 
thunderbolt. Wessely bore it in silence, only giving 
vent to his grief in sighs. Loftier and Schartlich, as 
well as my friends in the Lodge and the Singing- 
union, were loud in their lamentations. My semi- 
narists were thrown into consternation and profound 
melancholy, for they" said to themselves, one and all, 
that now things would be very different. In a very 
short time it was publicly announced that Herr 
Striez, director of the seminary at Neu-Zelle, was to 
be my successor, and that a candidate of theology 
would succeed Herr Runge. Herr von Turk was 



NOVEMBER IN THE HEART. 287 

beside himself at these changes, which had been 
effected almost entirely without his co-operation. 

The Christmas festival drew near amid much 
turmoil and confusion. It is a very unpleasant 
sensation that of knowing that one is about to leave 
a place one has grown accustomed to for another. 
One feels at home neither in the one nor in the other ; 
the dear and pleasant relations which have grown up 
around one seem already half dissolved ; one's old 
friends have almost given one up, and new ones have 
not yet been gained. It is real November weather 
for the heart. 

Between Christmas and the New Year I went for a 
few days to Berlin to discuss several matters with 
Herr von Barensprung, and I took the opportunity 
of calling on the Privy Councillor Stivem, who had 
always been very friendly towards me. He was not 
at all pleased at my having accepted the appointment 
at Berlin, and said that nothing could come of the 
Gewerbe-school, for that no higher school could suc- 
ceed in which the ancient languages were not taught ; 
nothing would take the place of these. He silenced 
my objections by saying that I had not been in- 
structed in the ancient languages, and that therefore 
I, too, had no experience in the matter. He went 
on to say that by entering on this post I became lost 
to science, which he deeply lamented, as he had had 
great designs for me. A vacancy would shortly occur 



2$8 THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

at the Joachimsthal grammar-school, which he had 
intended me to fill up. The post was a good one, 
and though not so advantageous from a pecuniary 
point of view as the one at Berlin, I should have had 
a great deal of spare time, which I might have 
devoted to scientific researches. It would have been 
a much more suitable and congenial position for me 
than that of director of a school which was defective 
in its entire plan, and could not possibly flourish, 
but for the failure of which I should be blamed. 
However, there was nothing to be done now, and he 
must give up his idea. I was touched by his great 
confidence in me, and thanked him for it warmly. 
But to change my plans was out of the question, and 
moreover I could not share his apprehensions. 

At the beginning of the year 1824 his Majesty the 
King, in consideration of my work, " Ground-lines of 
a New Theory of the Formation of the Earth," sent 
me the large gold medal for art and science, and 
accompanied it with a most gracious letter. This 
token of favour from the King, whom I reverenced so 
deeply, caused me great joy. 

The locality in which the Geuwbe-school was to be 
established was not yet decided on. The magistrate 
wished it to be in the Fuxstenhaus, but the town 
council wished the Werder Grammar-School to be 
transferred to this building, and the Gewerbe-school 
to succeed to the grammar-school's quarters by the 



PARTY STRIFES. 289 

Jungfernbriicke. There was so much angry discus- 
sion' on the subject that already, before it was opened, 
the Gewerbe-school had made violent antagonists in 
the town council; and these men remained from 
henceforth bitter enemies of the school, and did it a 
great deal of harm. Meanwhile the Inselgebaude 
had also been proposed as a suitable place, and I had 
to go to Berlin to inspect it. There would have been 
sufficient room in it, but it was not favourably 
situated, and so the idea was renounced. On the 
occasions of these frequent expeditions to Berlin, I 
had to pay a great many visits, partly to try and win 
over the opponents of the school, partly to keep up 
the ardour of its friends ; and I was thus involved in 
party strifes to which I had hitherto been a stranger. 

I had drawn up both the plans required of me by 
the Ministry, according to the principles laid down ; 
but at the same time I had felt it due, both to my 
office and to my conscience, to make known frankly 
my objections to the proposed alterations, and of these 
I had made a full statement in a memorandum which 
I sent in with the plans. I had at least done what 
I could to save the seminary, if possible. The only 
result, however, was that I received a rebuke for the 
unbecoming tone which was conspicuous throughout 
my memorandum : the matter itself had not been 
gone into. It is true that in my excitement I had 
made use of expressions which in a calmer moment I 

vol. it. u 



2 9 o THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

should myself have thought too strong ; and it is one 
of my weaknesses that my feelings are easily roused 
in writing, and that I often grow bitter without 
knowing it or wishing it. In this case, too, I had no 
intention of giving offence in any way. Herr Becke- 
dorf had taken some of my remarks as aimed at him 
personally ; and therefore, on my next visit to Berlin, 
I called on him, and assured him that he was quite 
mistaken, and that I was only speaking in general 
terms. He accepted my explanation, behaved most 
honourably, and became again friendly, and even 
confidential towards me. He then turned the con- 
versation on religion, on which subject, however, our 
opinions often diverged ; but in spite of my inability 
to agree with him, I parted from him with feelings of 
friendship and sincere respect. That our differences 
in opinion concerned momentous points was plainly 
shown a few years later, when he went over to 
Roman Catholicism. That he did this openly and 
without disguise was honourable ; that he did it not- 
withstanding that he was obliged in consequence to 
give up an appointment which was of value to him, 
proves that the step was the result of deep inner con- 
viction, which it is neither our business to blame nor 
to justify ; but at the same time the fact is significant 
as showing the direction in which the highest 
seminarial, and indeed educational, authority of the 
land was then beginning to tend. 



APPOINTMENT CONFIRMED. 291 

My appointment of director of the Gewerbe-school 
was confirmed by the magistrate of Berlin on the 
27th of January, 1824. Herr von Barensprung had 
this school greatly at heart, and he was meditating 
founding another institution in Berlin of a somewhat 
similar nature. 

There had formerly existed in Berlin a grammar- 
school which went by the name of the " Kollnisch 
Grammar-school." During the Seven Years' War, 
however, the attendance at the higher classes had 
fallen off to such an extent that the magistrate had 
resolved to do away with these classes altogether, 
and only retain the three lower ones — the sixth, the 
fifth, and the fourth — under the name of the " Koll- 
nisch School." Those pupils who had passed through 
this school, and wished to go on further with their 
education, were to continue their courses at the 
Grammar-school of the Gray Monastery, for which 
reason the Kollnisch school was placed under the 
ultimate control of the director of this grammar- 
school, and the funds and library of the former Koll- 
nisch Grammar-school were incorporated with those 
of the Grammar-school of the Gray Monastery. But 
the Kollnisch school continued to be carried on in 
the Kollnisch Council-house, though in separate 
quarters, and was under the immediate direction of 
Professor Valentine Heinrich Schmidt, a man already 
far advanced in years. 

u 2 



2Q2 THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

Herr von Barensprung did not at all approve of 
the grammar-school curriculum. The old Greeks 
and Romans, he said, were educated very differently, 
and why a modern age and modern minds could 
only receive cultivation by means of two ancient 
languages he was at a loss to understand. That 
there had been a time when the study of these 
languages had been of great use he did not dispute, 
but that time was, in his opinion, long gone by. 
For the sake of a knowledge of language and words, 
the knowledge of things was too much neglected: 
the knives were indeed sharpened, but they were 
never used to cut with. On the other hand, he 
agreed thoroughly with all the opinions that Pro- 
fessor Fischer had expressed in a pamphlet on educa- 
tional institutions for the higher classes, and espe- 
cially with his remarks concerning those institutions 
to which he wished the name of Real grammar-schools 
to be given. It was such a Real gra.nmar-school 
that Herr von Barensprung wished to found, and the 
Kollnisch school seemed to him to offer a good 
foundation to build on First, however, it would be 
necessary to loose it from the connection in which 
for many successive years it had stood to the Berlin 
Grammar-school, to place it under a new director- 
ship, and to obtain the necessary funds for indemnity, 
and for the transformation and extension of the in- 
stitution. Towards the end of January, Herr von 



A POINT OF HONOUR. 293 

Barensprung communicated his plan to me, and told 
me that it was his ardent wish that I would under- 
take the directorship, and also the preliminary 
management of affairs. He could not, he said, pro- 
mise me any additional pay, as the funds at his dis- 
posal would be more than swallowed up by the 
expenses of indemnity, <fcc., and by the salaries of the 
additional masters who would be required; but he 
pointed out to me that the fact of the Real grammar- 
school's being under the same direction as the Gewerbe- 
school would be an immense advantage to the latter, 
and would promote its success, for that the two 
institutions would be able to work into each other's 
hands and support each other. He went on to say 
that my readiness to agree to his proposal would be 
rated highly by the town officials, and that I should 
be contributing materially to the advancement of a 
good cause. He begged, therefore, that I would well 
consider the matter. 

When I reflected that I had actually been in the 
pay of the town since New Year's Day, and that I 
should not be able to settle in Berlin before mid- 
summer, it seemed to me a point of honour not to 
refuse to undertake work which was so closely con- 
nected with my appointment. I therefore sent in my 
agreement, and begged Herr von Barensprung to 
forward to me the present plan of instruction of the 
school. It was intended eventually to have the full 



294 THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

number of classes in the grammar-school, and for the 
present to begin with the formation of the third 
class. Special attention was to be devoted to the 
natural sciences, mathematics, and the German, 
French, and English languages. Latin was also to 
be taught, but not to the same extent as in other 
grammar-schools : the comprehension of Livy was 
to be the standard aimed at. The pupils were to 
pass the abiturient examination in the school, in 
order that they might be fitted to study at the 
University. 

On the 11th of February, 1824, I received from 
the Royal Council at Potsdam an official document 
informing me that the Ministry granted me the re- 
quested discharge from my present office on the 1st of 
July, and that they had charged the Council to com- 
municate this intelligence to me, and at the same 
time make known to me their entire satisfaction with 
my zeal, fidelity, and ability. The letter ended with 
these words on the part of the Council : " We consider 
ourselves bound to express to you on our part also 
our great satisfaction with the admirable manner in 
which you have discharged your official duties." 

On the 9th of March I bought my wife an annuity 
of 200 thalers in the General Widows' Fund. She 
was thus provided against every contingency in the 
future, and my marriage, which once might have been 
called a " venture," ceased to be one. 



A ROYAL PRESENT. 295 

I could not think of engaging in any literary work 
for the present, for great and important labours 
awaited me which would claim all my time and 
strength. I was therefore obliged to reject a very 
pleasant and advantageous proposal from the editor 
of the Jena Literary Gazette. I still frequently re- 
ceived from the Ministry and the Consistory edu- 
cational works to report on. 

The official calculator Liegeard had lately died and 
left behind him a natural-history collection, which the 
Royal Ministry commissioned me to inspect with a 
view to determining whether it was, either in part 
or altogether, suitable for the use of a grammar-school 
or of a schoolmistresses' seminary, and whether the 
price asked for it was reasonable. The collection 
contained minerals, petrified bodies, con chyles, corals, 
and other sea-products, curiosities of the vegetable 
and animal kingdoms and of the domain of arts and 
manufactures, specimens of wood, and a herbarium ; 
and it seemed to me that it would be useful and that 
the price was not too high. I sent in my report on 
the 3rd of February, and on the 13th of March I 
was informed by the Consistory that his Majesty in- 
tended to purchase the collection at the price re- 
quired and present it to the Potsdam Grammar- 
school, and that the point now under consideration 
was the selection of a thoroughly efficient com- 
missioner to receive the collection. The Ministry 



296 THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

had commissioned the Consistory to request me to 
undertake the task, and they, the members of the 
Consistory, gladly, they said, seconded the request, 
feeling sure from my known zeal in the furtherance 
of all good ends that I should readily comply with 
it, and that my counsel would be of great service in 
arranging the collection. I agreed to accept the 
task, and was then further requested to give my 
assistance and advice in the cleansing and arranging 
of the different objects. On the 5th of April I handed 
over the collection to the grammar-school, and I spent 
the following week in placing and classifying it. 
About two months later I received from the Royal 
Consistory a letter of thanks, in which they said that 
I had erected for myself an enduring monument at 
the grammar-school, and that as my services on its 
behalf would always live in the grateful memory of 
this institution, so the Consistory on their part 
acknowledged them also thankfully, and they had 
had a copy of their letter to me made by the Rector 
Buttner, in order that a memorial of my praiseworthy 
exertions might be preserved. 

It may perhaps seem vain in me to record all these 
complimentary expressions of my superior officials, 
but it will be seen further on that I have good 
reasons for doing so, and that two or three persons 
did their best secretly to spread a different opinion 
concerning me. 



FAREWELL ENTERTAINMENTS. 297 

On the 27th of May, Dr. Bauer, Worshipful Master 
of the Lodge " Bestandigkeit " (Constancy), to which I 
belonged, celebrated his twenty -five years' jubilee as 
a freemason. It was a beautiful festival, and was 
solemnized, like the festival of St. John on the 24th of 
June, in a spirit of hearty brotherhood. My heart was 
very heavy at the thought of the coming parting. 

My brother-in-law Schuler had come to Potsdam 
from Berlin to help me to pack up my instruments. 
Part of my physical instruments Lo filer bought of 
me. We were occupied quite a fortnight in packing 
up, and during this time we had also to get through 
our farewell entertainments and visits, by which both 
my wife and I were deeply affected. 

The first of the entertainments was given by the 
masters and seminarists in the Organ Hall, and all 
the principal people of Potsdam were invited. The 
evening began and ended with song. Schartlich 
made a very hearty speech (Runge had already left), 
and the seminarists presented me with a printed and 
bound poem in which their respects and good wishes 
were expressed. I returned thanks in an impromptu 
speech. Many tears were shed. On the 28th of June, 
in the presence of Herr von Turk, I made over the 
seminary to my successor in office. 

At the last meeting of the Singing-union, Wessely 
.delivered an address to me, and I was again presented 
with a touching poem. I had to make another 



298 THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

speech, and then all the members pressed round me 
with tears in their eyes to take their leave. Many of 
them I have never seen again, and most of them are 
now lying in their graves. 

On the 1st of July, the so-called " little Midsummer 
festival," a farewell party was given to myself and 
my wife at the lodge, and many non-masons of both 
sexes were present. Never shall I forget the deep 
and hearty cordiality of this gathering. We were 
overwhelmed by tokens of affection. It was very 
upsetting. For the last time I was singing in the 
place that had grown so dear to me, and where in 
company with Loffler, Schartlich, and Tagener, my 
brother masons, and the worthy Bauer, I had spent so 
many happy hours. Our eyes did not remain dry; 
our hearts were very full. In order to cheer our 
spirits my wife and I walked the next day as far as 
the Nauen Gate. It was the last walk we should 
take in the beautiful vicinity of Potsdam, for the 
next day we were to start for Berlin. 

I had sent the greater part of my possessions before- 
hand by boat, and the rest were packed in a waggon. 
For myself, my family, and my pupils I hired a 
carriage, and on the 3rd of July, 1824, we drove away 
from Potsdam. Loffler, Schartlich, and Tagener ac- 
companied us as far as Zehlendorf, where they regaled 
us with a breakfast, and we parted afterwards with 
heavy hearts. At Schoneberg my uncle Willmanns, 



RETROSPECT. 299 

the glass-dealer, awaited us, and received us to 
dinner. 

And herewith closed another period of my existence, 
a period fraught with the deepest importance both for 
my inner and my outward life. In spite of many 
bitter experiences — and what human life is exempt 
from them ? — this epoch of my life had been one of 
the brightest and most prosperous. In the full con- 
sciousness of having laboured with zeal and devotion 
in a far-reaching and widely useful sphere of activity ; 
respected and honoured by my superior officials, by 
my fellow-citizens, and by my pupils; blessed by love 
and friendship, and by a pure and happy family life, 
and elevated by the enjoyment of art and nature, I was 
constrained to acknowledge that heaven had showered 
on me in abundant measure its best treasures, and to 
lift up my heart in thankful admiration to the Father 
from whom every good and perfect gift descends. 
What an entirely different aspect did this period of 
my life present to that of preceding ones ! Everything 
had been new ! And yet this period too was to come 
to an end, and that, so Providence had ordained, just 
at the right time ; for only too soon did it become 
evident that the ideas which I had entertained with 
regard to seminary training had grown obsolete. The 
day will come when they will be taken up again, but 
another race will then inhabit the earth, and the 
memory of my name will have vanished. 



CHAPTER XXIX. 

[Professor Schmidt's disappointment at the author's being placed over him — 
The author proposes that he and Schmidt should be co-directors of the 
schools — The arrangement is settled satisfactorily — Enormous amount of 
work — Engages a seminarist as tutor for his children — Detailed descrip- 
tion of Herr von Barensprung — His personal appearance — Deep know- 
ledge of human nature — Artfulness — Iron will — More feared than loved 
by his subordinates — No reverence for art — The scanty development of 
the emotional side of his nature shown in his views on religion — His 
partial knowledge of scientific subjects — Entire want of philosophic 
culture — The 6re«;e?-6e-school placed under the control of a curatorium — 
The plan cumbersome and detrimental — Von Barensprung's artful 
management of the conferences of the curatorium — His code for the 
Gewerbe-school not ratified by the Ministry — Conclusion of Kloden's 
autobiography.] 

A ND so I was once more back in Berlin. I had taken 
■*-*' lodgings in the Franzosische Strasse, at No. 21. 
The goods I had sent by boat arrived the day after I 
did, but unfortunately, owing to heavy rain, great 
part of them had been damaged. Schuler helped me 
to set my things in order. It was annoying to think 
that in three months I should have to make another 
change. 

I had learnt that old Professor Schmidt took it 
very much to heart that I, who was so much the 
younger man, should be placed over him, and that he 
was giving vent to the most melancholy forebodings 



A FRIEND MADE. 301 

concerning the future of the Kollnisch school. This 
distressed me greatly, and I spoke on the subject to 
Herr von Barensprung, who was not particularly fond 
of the old professor, and pointed out to him how 
advantageous in many ways Schmidt's accurate know- 
ledge of all the circumstances of the school would be, 
when it was severed from the Berlin grammar-school, 
if only he could be brought to enter with goodwill 
into the change or even to support it. This, Herr 
von Barensprung said, would not be easy to manage. 
I answered him that there was one way of managing 
it, if only he would consent to it, and that was to 
nominate Schmidt co-director with me, which step 
would manifestly strengthen the confidence of the 
parents in the professor, and also increase his authority ; 
and this, I said, was very necessary, as I should be 
obliged to leave a great part of the management and 
special direction to him. Herr von Barensprung saw 
the advantages of my proposal, and determined to 
adopt it. The arrangement was settled satisfactorily, 
and- by this simple means I won over Professor 
Schmidt, heart and soul, both to the change and to 
myself. He never once went counter to me, and from 
that time forth we stood in the most friendly relations 
towards each other. His experiences too were useful 
to me in various ways. 

On the 19th of July the Ministry signified their 
approval of the separation of the Kollnisch School 



302 THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

from the Berlin grammar-school, and of the nomi- 
nation of Professor Schmidt as co-director with me. 
The separation, however, was not to be effected till 
Michaelmas. 

There was now an enormous amount of work to be. 
got through. The business of separating the two insti- 
tutions was not easy ; I had to sketch out the system 
of instruction and the lesson-plans ; to make the 
acquaintance of the old masters and look out for new 
ones; to procure educational apparatus, and especially 
physical and chemical instruments (some of my own 
physical and mathematical instruments were pur- 
chased for the Geiverbe-school) ; to negotiate the sale 
of my mineral collection ; to assist at numbers of 
conferences, or to organize them myself; to pay end- 
less visits, (fee, &c. The labour was great, and 
required all the energy of which I Avas capable. 

One of my Potsdam seminarists, a young man of 
the name of Gross, who had excellent abilities, and 
had made very good progress at the seminary, was 
extremely anxious to go on studying, but could not 
afford to do so. At the end of July, therefore, I took 
him into my house as tutor to my children, and 
allowed him enough spare time to devote himself to 
the classics. He remained with me for several years, 
passed his abiturient examination, worked hard at 
mathematics and physics, became a schoolmaster, and 
received a good appointment at the grammar-school 



A CHARACTER-SKETCH. 303 

at Bremen, where he gave immense satisfaction. 
Unfortunately, however, he died soon after going 
there, still in the prime of life. 

I saw Von Barensprung, the Burgomaster, almost 
ever j day ; either he came to me, or I had to go to 
him. Every day, too, I received from him two or 
three notes, sometimes only a few lines, which had to 
be answered. This seems to me a fitting place to give 
a detailed description of this man, who exercised so 
important an influence both on his own times and on 
my life. I will not portray him as he seemed to me 
then, but as I learnt to know him in the course of 
years. 

Herr von Barensprung was a man of rather tall and 
powerful build, with an oblong head and a face that 
was not particularly attractive, and in which a 
peculiar and not easily discernible character was 
expressed. Although his eyes had the appearance of 
being weak, his glance was keen and penetrating — 
almost piercing. He was possessed with a restless 
activity, and yet he never seemed to be very much 
occupied. Business appeared to be his ruling passion, 
and he superintended his widely extensive sphere of 
labour with the greatest facility. He was the soul of 
the magistracy. His knowledge of human nature 
was as deep as his circle of acquaintance was ex- 
tensive ; but this knowledge had made him mistrustful 
of his fellow-creatures. He could in the most artful 



304 THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

way take hold of each person on his weak side, and 
make use of him for his own purposes according to 
the particular capacity of the individual. With these 
characteristics Herr von Barensprung combined a 
remarkably sharp understanding, deep insight, and a 
quick judgment which seldom betrayed him. In the 
often highly complicated relations of business, in 
which it is so easy to clash with the interest of 
individuals, so easy to excite opposition, he would 
rarely proceed quite straightforwardly ; he preferred 
circuitous serpent- ways, in which he certainly was 
a master. He knew how to slink out of the wav 
here, to wind himself round there, to dart at the 
enemy when necessary, or else by moderation oblige 
him to yield. He made use of his fellow-creatures as 
a clever chess-player uses his chessmen : struck one 
by means of others, or else let them keep each other 
harmless whilst he moved forwards. When he did not 
wish to go to the front himself, he skilfully pushed on 
others ; but he was not afraid, when necessary, to 
expose his uncovered front to the adversary. He 
never had recourse to dishonest means, or rather to 
what he called dishonest means — for to act the spy, 
as his mistrust of people occasionally prompted him 
to do, he did not consider dishonest. He thought, 
indeed, far more of the end than of the means, and if 
a means led to a desired end, a great deal might be 
excused. His will was an iron one, and his per- 



MORE FEARED THAN LOVED. 305 

sonality exercised a wonderfully constraining power 
over all who came in contact with him. His dis- 
position was decidedly hard: soft-heartedness was 
unknown to him. Altogether his feelings played a 
very secondary part in his character, and one would 
have been inclined to believe that he was entirely 
destitute of such articles, had they not frequently 
shown themselves in quite an attractive form in his 
intercourse with his most charming and gentle wife 
and his children. But. such occasions were as gleams 
of sunshine through a cloudy sky. Barensprung 
was consequently more feared than loved by his sub- 
ordinates. The latter were kept under the severest 
discipline, and his whole complicated and extensive 
bureau-machinery went like clockwork. In school, 
too, he valued fear more than love, and indeed he 
looked upon love as an unnecessary luxury. He was 
no great friend of sensual enjoyment or social plea- 
sures. His mode of life was throughout simple, and 
even his furniture was confined to what was abso- 
lutely necessary. He had no reverence for art, which 
he considered as another luxury, and he therefore 
never indulged in buying pictures. A landscape of 
Lessing's, which he had won at an art-union, he sold 
again after a short time, and a few worthless copper- 
plate prints were the only ornaments on his walls. 
He was also no lover of music, and never went to con- 
certs or operas. He occasionally visited the theatre, 
vol. 11. x 



3 o6 THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

but the poetry of the drama was quite thrown away 
upon him, as he only observed the externals of the 
performance. 

This scanty development of the emotional side of 
his nature showed itself also in his views on religion, 
which was nothing more to him than a political 
weapon for restraining the people. With regard to 
his actual religious opinions, he was always silent 
and reserved. His education had been begun at the 
Berlin Grammar-school, and he still remembered 
with silent anger how he had been plagued there 
with Latin and Greek, subjects which he detested, 
whereas he would have delighted to occupy him- 
self with other branches of learning. When he 
left the grammar-school he had attended lectures on 
law and social science at the University, and had 
then for the first time discovered how wanting he 
was in knowledge of facts. There, too, he had learnt 
to value the study of natural science, and through 
chemistry a new world had been opened to him. His 
experiences as auditor, and still more as Government 
councillor and burgomaster of Berlin, had confirmed 
him in the opinions formed at the University. Of 
all the sciences, chemistry and technology stood 
highest in his estimation, and next to them came 
physics. A universal knowledge of these subjects 
seemed to him the most crying want of the times. 
His own acquaintance with them was not con- 



A UTILITARIAN. 307 

temptible, but it was deficient in solidity, as indeed 
was his scientific knowledge generally. Mathematics 
were only of importance to him in their relation to 
physics : he did not know enough of the subject to 
value it for its own sake. Mineralogy was much too 
intimately connected with chemistry not to have a 
high place in his estimation ; but of this subject too 
he knew very little, and, although he at one time 
bought a collection of minerals, he sold it again later 
without having made any use of it. Botany he con- 
sidered useful, but too diffuse, and not penetrating 
sufficiently into life. Zoology he did not trouble 
himself with at all. He valued astronomy as a 
branch of natural science ; geography, however — of 
which he knew nothing — very little indeed. History 
he looked upon as mere training for the memory : it 
was much too comprehensive, he said, to be taught 
in detail, very unproductive, and liable to nourish 
false conceptions when taught aphoristically, as was 
necessary in schools, owing to the very limited time 
that could be devoted to it. German grammar he 
considered essential as a means of mental training, 
and of course indispensable in every-day life. His 
own style of writing was rough and unpolished. 
English and French he valued partly as material for 
the comparison of languages, and partly from a 
utilitarian point of view. He himself occasionally 
visited the French theatre as an exercise in the 

x 2 



308 THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

language, and to see how much he understood of it. 
Latin he would have liked to see confined to philo- 
logists, theologians, historical inquirers, and lawyers ; 
Greek to the two first only. 

Thus it will be seen that though Herr von Baren- 
sprung's scientific acquirements were neither deep nor 
comprehensive, he nevertheless gave one the im- 
pression of a generally clever man, of sound and on 
the whole unhampered judgment, and of a nature 
in which there was much that was commanding, and 
which at once subdued to itself the wills of others. 
His character was not an amiable or attractive one, 
but there was a considerable amount of greatness in 
it, and he could, without doubt, have done honour to 
a higher position than that of burgomaster of the 
capital. It was a pity that he was entirely wanting 
in philosophic culture. He had never striven to 
make clear to himself what was the object of human 
life. Why it was good for people to learn chemistry 
and technology, and to try to improve everything 
around them, — why it was desirable that works of art 
should be produced, he had never tried to discover. 
He had an instinctive desire for progress, but he 
never stopped to ask what was the advantage of it. 
Any improved kind of utensil, work-tool, or house- 
hold furniture afforded him immense delight, and he 
would try the new articles for several days, but finally 
return them without buying them ; and if any one 



A GOOD HATER. 309 

else, who was not very rich, bought such things he 
thought it quite blamable. Whenever it became a 
question of life, or striving, the man who was wont to 
be of so great consequence dwindled into insignifi- 
cance. Neither philosophy nor religion came, to his 
help in these matters. But to his merit it must be 
said that however greedy he might be of power he was 
not avaricious of worldly possessions, and was always 
thoroughly contented with his income. He was also 
disinterested. What he did he did first for the good 
of the town ; the carrying out of his own plans, and 
the extension of his rule, were only secondary con- 
siderations. I do not think that his emotions ever 
went further than kindly feeling: he could barely 
love, but no one knew better than he how to hate. 
Of all men that I have ever known in my life he had 
the most remarkable character — often truly magnani- 
mous ; born to rule ; full of strange peculiarities ; 
gifted with marvellous decision, and for that very 
reason also a despot. His will was law, and he 
could always succeed either in circumventing or 
breaking through narrowing restrictions. 

The Geiverbe-school was placed under the control 
of a curatorium, consisting of members of the magis- 
tracy and town council, and presided over by Herr 
von Barensprung. I had not at the outset sufficiently 
estimated the impracticability of this arrangement. 
At first perhaps it was advantageous, but in course 



310 THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

of time it became cumbersome, useless, and even 
detrimental. From the very outset things were so 
arranged that scarcely a single question relating to 
the direction of the school could be settled without 
having first been discussed with the utmost prolixity 
by the curatorium ; and I had only a counselling 
voice in this body, no vote even concerning questions 
which were purely school matters, and of which the 
gentlemen curators had either very imperfect know- 
ledge or else none at all. How business dragged 
under these circumstances, and what difficult work it 
was to ward off manifest evil from the school, and to 
check foolish proposals and supposed improvements, 
may easily be imagined. Herr von Barensprung 
thought by means of the curators to secure himself a 
party in the town council for the support of his views; 
and he was right, for what they counselled or sub- 
scribed to at the meetings of the curatorium they 
were obliged to support in the assembly. For this 
reason the original fixed number of five curators was 
by degrees increased to double that number, and the 
wily burgomaster knew how to manage so that beyond 
the first five none but opponents of the school should 
be chosen as curators. This, indeed, was not difficult 
to bring about, for there were many in the assembly 
who thought that these opponents would be the 
most likely people to limit Herr von Barensprung's 
far-reaching projects. His game, however, which he 



A TRYING POSITION. 311 

fought hard for at the conferences, was to win them 
over to his opinions and transform them into friends 
of the school. But in this he did not succeed, for 
they were enemies of the school for no other reason than 
because they were enemies of Herr von Barensprung. 
Nevertheless, he managed to silence them in con- 
ference, for very few of them were able to oppose his 
arguments ; they subscribed to his opinions, and 
having done so they could not, openly at least, speak 
against the school. But it was a most trying and 
difficult position for me, for I stood in the middle of 
this war of parties, which was very odious to me, 
and with all my striving I was often unable to ward 
off hurtful measures from the school. On the other 
hand, I saw no possibility of altering the circum- 
stances. The Gewerbe-school was Herr von Baren- 
sprung's darling child. Without his help and 
active co-operation it would have been impossible — 
considering the many enemies which the school 
had made before it was opened — to carry out the 
scheme, and I knew that he would only interest 
himself in affairs with which he was specially con- 
nected and which were carried on according to his 
ideas. To keep him within fixed limits was an 
impossibility. I had requested him to give me a 
written form of instructions, but he had refused to do 
so, saying it was a plan he did not approve of, for 
each one must know himself what he ought to do. 



3 i2 THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

He would certainly not have considered any such 
form as restricting himself wherever he might think 
it necessary to interfere, and there was nothing left 
me but to work hand in hand with him, and to trust 
to the power of reasonable representations. The 
remaining members of the curatorium played more or 
less a subordinate part. True, the affairs were all 
discussed with them, and what they said was heard 
and considered. They had also to draw up decrees, 
and often even to carry out measures; but nothing was 
done except what Barensprung wished. Sometimes 
he would propose something quite different from what 
he intended, allow himself to be opposed, and then 
finally manage to draw forth from another member 
the proposal which he wished made, merely to give 
others the satisfaction of having carried something 
through and withstood him. He would often adduce 
weak arguments against the proposals he thus drew 
out, and let himself be outvoted in order that it 
should not seem as if he was always in the right and 
all his views were carried out. He used frequently 
to let me into the secret of his policy, and laugh at 
the " great wisdom" of his colleagues. But at times 
I, too, was not allowed to see his hand, and on 
several occasions I could not at all make out what he 
was driving at. For instance, at one conference 
three whole hours were spent in discussing whether 
a chest should stand in one room or another, a matter 



TIME WASTED. 313 

which did not signify in the least, and it was ludicrous 
to watch how these gentlemen strained their wits to 
find out reasons for or against one course or the 
other, when there were none at all to be discovered. 
The question was only decided with immense diffi- 
culty. What Herr von Barensprung's object was I 
could not at all see ; but it was lamentable that so 
much precious time should have been wasted. That 
the mode of carrying on business in the curatorium, 
where everything was done on paper, every requi- 
sition and regulation proposed and agreed to in 
writing, was productive of an immense amount of 
]abour, is manifest. I had so many acts to write that 
Herr von Barensprung allowed me a special magis- 
trate's secretary for engrossing, and this man wao 
kept fully employed. I was never able to prevail on 
my chief to simplify the business or shorten the 
procedure. No single question was ever allowed to 
be settled by one individual alone ; everything had 
to be submitted to the collected assembly, and always 
in writing, with every formality — a mode of pro- 
ceeding which is most unsuitable to a school, and 
which caused me endless trouble and annoyance ; for 
amongst the curators there were some who were not 
always as amiable as could have been wished. 

Meanwhile Herr von Barensprung had sent in to 
the Ministry for their approval the GW^rfo-school 
code which he had drawn up, and on the 3rd of 



3 H THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

September they wrote to him to the following effect : 
That this school, like all the other town schools, 
would be under the constitutional supervision of the 
Provincial Board of Education, and would stand to 
the Royal Consistory in the relations which had been 
fully and accurately laid down in the memorandum 
of instructions of the 23rd of October, 1817; that 
the Ministry further required that the Geiverbe-school 
should not be limited exclusively to inhabitants of 
Berlin ; that they considered the proposed standard 
of instruction too high, and as presupposing the 
pupils at their entrance into the school to be further 
advanced than they were likely to be ; and finally, 
that religious instruction must be included, in order 
that the pupils might acquire right views concern- 
ing the use of their powers and their earnings. 
The Ministry stated, in addition, that "in the trust- 
worthy and energetic director whom the magistrate 
had appointed they found a warrant of the success 
of the school." Thus Barensprung's code was not 
ratified, but the opening of the school, subject to the 
above modifications, was sanctioned. This communi- 
cation Avas very displeasing to Herr von Barensprung, 
and he expressed himself almost angrily concerning 
it, and took as little notice of it as possible. Never- 
theless there was much truth and justice in the 
remarks of the Royal Ministry, and to me they were 
not unwelcome. 



CONCLUSION. 315 

[So far Kloden's own memoirs extend. In the 
following pages a sketch of his further life will be 
given, accompanied by a catalogue as complete as 
possible of the works of this most versatile of men.] 



APPENDIX. 



APPENDIX. 



ON the 18th. of October, 1824, the Gewei*be-achool 
was opened in the ducal palace, in the very same 
quarters now occupied by the Werder grammar-school. 
Great was the opposition which the new institution 
met with. " That a school should be established in 
which ancient languages were not to be taught, a 
school in which natural science, mathematics, and 
modern languages were to be the chief subjects of 
instruction, this was more than venturesome," and 
not a few prophesied the speedy downfall of the 
Gewerbe-school. Antipathy — ay, and contempt — from 
schoolmasters and savants of one-sided philological 
training, encountered it on all sides, and these 
gentlemen imagined that they were pronouncing an 
extremely reasonable judgment when they condemned 
the undertaking as "the aberration of a well-meaning 
mind." "Envy, endangered interest, jealousy, un- 
reason, ill-will, in short the whole tribe of evil 
demons, by whatever name they may be called, who 
invariably oppose every new enterprise," were per- 
severingly and maliciously active. " There were many 
difficult hours to be tided over." Without the 
energetic support of Barensprung and individual 



320 THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

curators, amongst whom I may specially mention the 
Privy Financial Councillor Knoblauch, the battle for 
Kloden would hardly have been fought through ; 
without himself, however, without his true-hearted 
zeal and strong clear-headedness, victory would have 
been impossible. Kloden had grasped the idea of the 
Gewerbe-sohool, as of a thoroughly modern institu- 
tion for training for practical life, with his whole soul, 
and to the development and diffusion of the idea he 
gave himself up in the following years with complete 
devotion and untiring activity. In the first report of 
the Gewerbe-soh.oo\ (1825) he gave public expression 
to his- ideas in a paper on " The Requirements, the 
Object, and the Subjects of Instruction of the Berlin 
Gewei^be -school " (72 pp.)- -But it needed frequent 
repetition of these, in themselves most obvious 
opinions, to overcome the deeply-rooted prejudices 
of a wide circle of people, and accordingly Kloden 
gave vent to the same ideas again in the year 1830, 
first in a " Public Report on the Object and the 
Organization of the Berlin Geiverbe-sohooV (21 pp.), 
and secondly in an "Address to the Parents of the 
Pupils who attend the Berlin Gewerbe -school" (14 pp.). 
His article in the report of 1827, "On the further 
Cultivation of those engaged in Industrial Pursuits 
outside the School" (75 pp.), belongs to the same 
class of ideas. 

It may be imagined what immense demands were 
made on the working powers of a man to whom was 
entrusted the directorate of two educational insti- 
tutions, both of which were to be organized and carried 
on on principles hitherto unrecognized. The manage- 



APPENDIX. 321 

ment of the Kollnisch Real grammar-school remained 
in Kloden's hands for three years. In the reports of 
this institution published during this time, he endea- 
voured, in a manner which pointed significantly 
towards his future work, to bring the present con- 
dition and new development of the school into 
harmony with its past ; and for this purpose he wrote, 
in conjunction with Valentin Heinrich Schmidt, a 
paper entitled, "The Earlier History of the Kollnisch 
Grammar-school up to the time of its Incorporation 
with the Berlin Grammar-school" (44 pp.), and in 
the reports of the two following years, " The History 
of the Kollnisch Grammar-school during its period of 
connection with the Berlin Grammar-school " (80 pp.), 
and "The Chronicles of the Kollnisch Real Grammar- 
school" (12 pp.). In the report of the Kollnisch Gram- 
mar-school he published, also in connection with 
Valentin Schmidt, three treatises: "The Treasure, — 
The Token, — The Bell: Incidents from the History 
of Brandenburg."* 

In October, 1827, at his own urgent request, finding 
his duties too arduous, he was absolved from the 
directorship of the grammar-school. 

The Geiverhe-sohooY was originally opened with 
only one class (Tertia) and twenty-four pupils ; in the 
following year the Secunda was added ; and in the 
autumn of 1826 the Prima, and at the same time 
(September 14, 1826) the institution was removed 
from the ducal palace to the locality which it still 

* It is not easy to determine accurately what share each writer had in 
these treatises. They are signed by Schmidt, but in the Gelehrten Berlin, 
Kloden mentions them amongst his own works. — Editor. 

VOL. II. Y 



322 THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

occupies at the present day — viz., what was formerly 
the ministerial residence of the late Graf Hertzberg, 
No. 12, Mederwall Strasse, opposite the Alte Leipziger 
Strasse, and on the site of the former Leipzig Gate. 
This building was gradually enlarged to suit the new 
requirements. A year later a fourth class was esta- 
blished, and when in the autumn of 1829 the school 
entered on the occupation of the whole new quarters, 
an under-tertia was further added, and the number of 
pupils rose to 162, that of the masters to twenty-two. 

The school reports which Kloden published an- 
nually in the programmes of the Gewerbe-school 
contain always a sketch of the general course of 
instruction during the past year, a chronicle of the 
institution, statistical reports, an account of the 
educational apparatus and the donations received. 
With regard to the course of instruction there 
appears in the title-page : — 

Scientific Instruction — Religion, history, geography, book- 
keeping, algebra, geometry, physics, chemistry, mineralogy, 
botany, zoology, technology. 

Languages — German language and literature, English language. 

Artistic Accomplishments — Singing, dancing, and calligraphy. 

Special attention was given to drawing ; by the 
training of the eye and hand, and aesthetic cultiva- 
tion, the pupils were to be prepared for the execution 
of skilled work in the future. Kloden himself gave 
the instruction to the first class, and the subjects were 
natural philosophy, astronomy, and mechanical tech- 
nology. In the second class he taught physics; and 
in the upper third class, geometry and natural philo- 
sophy. 



APPENDIX. 323 

In addition to the director, the following eminent 
men officiated at that time as regular masters in the 
school : — The celebrated chemist, Professor Dr. 
Friedrich Wohler, who eventually transplanted the 
system of Gewerbe-schools to Hesse ; the botanist 
Ruthe, who had made himself known by his " Flora 
of the Mark Brandenburg;" the distinguished mathe- 
matician Dr. Steiner, who afterwards became a 
member of the Academy of Sciences ; and finally the 
mineralogist and Germanist, Philipp Wackernagel, 
who was later appointed director of the Gewerbe-school 
at Elberfeld. 

The adhesion of such renowned men as Wohler 
and Wackernagel to the principles of the Gewerbe- 
school system, and the efforts which they made to 
propagate them in West Germany, are enough to 
show how Kloden's new creation succeeded in gaining 
gradually increasing recognition. It had soon com- 
manded attention in wide circles, and imitation was 
not long in following. 

These endeavours found a warm sympathizer in 
Goethe, who at once brought them into immediate 
connection with Beuth's efforts for the introduction 
of art to the domain of handicrafts. In Part 31 of 
Goethe's Works we find a short essay on a " Pro- 
gramme for the Examination of Pupils in Director 
Kloden's Gewerbe-school" in which, amongst other 
things, he says, "This programme shows us with 
what comprehensive care the Prussian State con- 
templates placing itself in a position of equality with 
the continuously progressive Technik (technical in 
struction) of our neighbours ; and we have made 

y2 



324 THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

experience of the beneficial effect of such instruction 
in some of our own people, who were kindly received 
there as guests. ... In Berlin there is now 
such an enormous preponderance of good taste that 
false taste will have a hard matter to push itself 
forward anywhere; and the very Gewerbe-school in 
question, grounded on higher art institutes, itself a 
higher art institute, is essentially a means towards 
the diffusion of a purer taste by a perfected system 
of technical representation." 

If Goethe did justice so pre-eminently to the 
technical-artistic side of the Gewerbe-school system, 
others recognized no less warmly, and with even 
greater justice, the importance of sound and thorough 
instruction in the natural sciences, and exerted them- 
selves strenuously to extend this advantage to other 
institutions. 

This is not the place for entering into a descrip- 
tion of the effect which these endeavours had on the 
nature of education in Germany ; but we may be 
allowed to remark that in Berlin the influence of the 
Gewerbe-school very soon brought about a reorgani- 
zation of the Royal i?£a/-school, in which from the 
year 1825, and under the guidance of the meritorious 
director Spilleke, the plan of instruction approached 
gradually nearer to Klo den's. Eventually it was 
chiefly the magistrates of the larger towns of the 
Prussian State, especially those of Breslau, Stettin, 
and Elberfeld, who went forward on the new path 
and founded schools in imitation of Kloden's insti- 
tute ; of these some were entirely similar to the 
Gewerbe-school, others were Real and higher burgher 



APPENDIX. 325 

schools, differing in some special points from the 
original, but in none of them was the fundamental 
idea lost sight of; and sooner or later the exact 
sciences attained everywhere the important place to 
which their intrinsic worth and their bearing upon 
life entitle them. 

In the course of fourteen years the number of these 
institutions had increased to such an extent that they 
were no longer looked upon as novelties, and the 
State also recognized them as being on the same level 
as grammar-schools. 

In September, 1828, Kloden was nominated a 
member of the Elbinger Trades-union. 

Kloden's home-life had shaped itself very pleasantly 
in his new circumstances. Any one walking through 
the narrow, old-fashioned Niederwall Strasse would 
scarcely imagine what charming gardens he con- 
cealed between its buildings and the ditch of the 
fortress. At the present day, owing to the enormous 
increase in population and industry, this neighbour- 
hood is certainly . not attractive ; but during the 
first half of the century it was very different, and the 
garden of the Geiverhe-school, with its wealth of splendid 
fruit-trees, its leafy bowers, and its vine espaliers, 
formed a delightful resort. Here Kloden could take 
his fill of enjoyment of the life of nature : he could 
plant and sow and reap ; and never was he happier 
than when the spring clothed his beloved garden in 
fresh verdure and breathed its balmy breath over his 
gay and well-tended flower-beds. 

In spite of the extensive labours of directorship, 
Kloden did not, even during the first years of founda- 



326 THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

tion, allow his scientific pursuits to lie quite by. In 
the GW^rfo-school programme of 1826 he published 
a treatise — which was to a certain extent a continua- 
tion of his ideas on morphology, and which trenched 
on dialectic ground — on " The Four Modes of Reckon- 
ing, and the Cases of the German Language in their 
Mutual Relations and their Connection with some 
other Achievements of the Understanding" (98 pp.). 
In the following year he wrote a preface and notes to 
G. Brougham's " Practical Remarks on the Cultivation 
of the Industrial Classes, addressed to Artisans and 
Manufacturers," and this pamphlet was recommended 
by the Minister to all the local administrations, and 
supplied by the magistrate to the district authorities. 

In 1828 he edited Schuler's work on a " Relief of 
the Hartz Mountains," which was published in 1832. 
In the cartographic collection of the Generalstab (War- 
office) a copy of this work is still preserved as a 
specimen of one of the earliest scientific attempts in 
the field of plastic geographical representation. 

In 1829 a second enlarged edition of the " Ground- 
lines of a New Theory of the Formation of the Earth " 
appeared under the following title : — " On the Forma- 
tion and Origin of the Earth, with the Phenomena 
dependent thereon, in an Astronomical, Geognostic, 
and Physical Point of View" (402 pp.). All the 
expansions and additions to the first edition of 1824 
(208 pp.) are printed together in a second part, which 
can be bought separately by those who already 
possess the first edition. Part I. (the original 
edition) treats first of the nature of fluids in 
general, then of the heavenly bodies, and ends 



APPENDIX. 



e 



with summing up Kloden's new theory. Th 
Heidelberger Jalirbucher for 1829, No. 75, says of this 
theory that it is " an ingenious hypothesis, not more 
daring than those which have been accepted be- 
fore," and that " it explains in a satisfactory manner, 
not only the gradual origin of the shape of the earth, 
which in fact ought not to be regarded as any other 
than that of a flattened spheroid, but also the 
phenomena of ebb and flow and a great variety of 
' physicai-geologic-geognostic ' problems, which have 
hitherto been supposed to proceed from causes entirely 
independent of each other." These hypotheses are 
as follows : — 1. The earth solidifying under the in- 
fluence of neighbouring planets, revolved during the 
process very slowly compared to those planets. 2. 
After the surface of the earth had almost attained its 
ultimate form, its revolution round its axis became 
accelerated, and suddenly and simultaneously with 
this acceleration a new direction of the axis took 
place. Appended to the first book is an account of 
the sinking of the Scandinavian Sea. The second 
book contains the additions, improvements, and 
expansions of the new edition. 

It was geognostic studies, however, which stood out 
in the foreground of Kloden's activity. An excursion 
to Saxony, Bohemia, and Silesia, which he made with 
his family in the summer of 1826, and a journey to 
Switzerland and North Italy in 1829 in company 
with the Privy Councillor Knoblauch, gave a general 
extension to his horizon, and imparted to what had 
hitherto been essentially theoretic knowledge the 
quickening stimulus and help of immediate contem- 



328 THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

plation. But with every love of, and delight in, 
learning, the investigations made during these expe- 
ditions could be nothing more than hasty and super- 
ficial, and of far greater value to him was a series of 
most careful and penetrating researches on native 
ground made during the "spring geognostic excur- 
sions" of the years 1828-30. In his explorations of 
the lowland formations of the Rauen hills and the 
Scharmiitzel lake, of the neighbourhoods of Bukow, 
Fiirstenwald, and Dahlwitz, or of Finow, Oderberg, 
Chorin, and Werbellin, Kloden arrived at results 
which though wanting in the halo with which the 
public is wont to surround glacial and volcanic re- 
searches, nevertheless laid the foundation of the 
geognostic knowledge of the lowlands of North 
Germany, and therefore even in the present day are 
of immense value, and in their way classical. These 
results were first recorded in the " Contributions to 
the Mineralogic and Geognostic Knowledge of the 
Mark Brandenburg," which appeared in an unbroken 
series in the programmes of the 6r^i^r6^-school from 
1828 to 1837, and which extend, in ten papers, over 
a compass of nearly 1,000 pages. The general con- 
tents of the separate yearly parts are as follows : — 

1828. — Introduction. Description of the adjoining solid rock 
strata. 

1829. — Earliest strata or tertiary formation — Plastic clay and 
brown coal formation. 

1830. — A treatise on amber — Continuation of the tertiary forma- 
tion — Coarse limestone formation — Intermediate fresh-water 
formation, with notice of the shells and plants occurring in 
marl — Treatise on the mineral springs of the Mark. 

1831. — Continuation of the treatise on the mineral springs. 

1832. — Diluvial formation, with a specially exhaustive treatise on 
the presence of boulders in the Mark. 



APPENDIX. 329 

1833.— -A treatise on the boulders of the Mark. 

1834.— Continuation of the above treatise, and beginning of 
another on the simple fossils which are found as boulders 
and in boulders. (Stones, black-lead and amber, metals.) 

1835-37. — Alluvium, with comprehensive topographical treatises 
on the alluvial districts. (Lakes, bays, &c.) 

The first half of these publications was enough to 
show the great importance of Kloden r s researches, 
and they arrested the marked attention of Goethe. 
In a notice on the " Markgrafen stein on the Rauhisch 
Mountain near Ftirstenwald" (Goethe's Works, vol. 
xxxi.) he ends with the following remark : " On 
this subject we may expect from the Herr Director 
Kloden, as a continuation of his l Contributions to 
the Mineralogic and Geognostic Knowledge of the 
Mark Brandenburg,' the most trustworthy informa- 
tion, and we hope to receive from him a plan and 
outline-sketch of that region : " and on the 28th of 
April, Goethe writes to Zelter : " Give my best 
regards to Herr Director Kloden, and thank him for 
his welcome pamphlet. A remarkably clear geo- 
logical instinct guides him through the labyrinths 
of those northern lowlands. He is observant and 
accurate, and he enables us to realize distinctly the 
whole scene. But his Gewerbe-school is something 
admirable ! He belongs to the men with whom I 
should like from time to time to converse. These 
become every day more rare amongst the known, but 
there are doubtless many admirable ones scattered 
here and there." 

On the 8th of June, 1830, Kloden received the 
diploma of honorary membership of the Berlin 
"Society of Investigators of Nature" {Gesellschaft 



330 THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

naturforschender Freunde); and on the 18th of January, 
1833, the order of the Red Eagle (4th class) was 
bestowed on him. 

As further fruits of the above-mentioned researches, 
there appeared, in 1834, a work on the "Petrified 
Bodies of the Mark Brandenburg, with special regard 
to those that are found in the Boulders and Blocks 
on the South Baltic Plains" (Berlin, Ltideritz, 1834; 
378 pp.), with ten coloured plates ; and a lecture 
on the " Determination of Altitudes in the Mark 
Brandenburg" (8 pp.), read before the Geographical 
Society, in which Kloden filled the post of honorary 
secretary, and printed in Bergliaus Annalen, 1831. 

Up to that time the petrifactions of the Mark 
Brandenburg had never been scientifically studied ; 
they had, indeed, scarcely been noticed at all. But 
now, all at once, Kloden's work revealed an un- 
dreamt of wealth of indigenous fossils. The book 
begins with an introductory account of the petri- 
factological studies of the Mark, a statement of 
the various materials made use of, an exposition of 
the special difficulties of investigation and classifica- 
tion, and a list of those stones and strata in the Mark 
which contain fossils in general. Then comes the 
enumeration of the petrifactions under their seven 
chief subdivisions — mammoliths, amphibioliths, ich- 
thyoliths, Crustacea, helmintholiths (festaceous ani- 
mals, radiarii, zoophytes), phytoliths, and problema- 
tical bodies : and the book ends with a comparative 
survey of the geognostic worth of petrifactions, and 
a treatise on the native home of the boulders 
scattered over the plains of North Germany. 



APPENDIX. 33i 

The determination of the formation of the lime 
strata of Riidersdorf was also a result of Klo den's 
geognostic labours. 

His friendly relations with Krause, privy councillor 
of commerce, and chief official at Colbatz, gave him 
opportunity for extending his geognostic and minera- 
logic studies to Pomeranian ground. On the 1st of 
November he was made corresponding member of 
the Pomeranian Historical and Antiquarian Society, 
and in the " Baltic Studies " of this Society (3 Jahrg., 
1 Hft.) he published an essay on the "Earliest 
Natural Monument (Naturclenkmal) of Pomerania " 
(27 pp.), and, in Karsten's "Archives" (vol. vii. pp. 
113, ff.), a dissertation on " A Stratum of Oolitic Lime 
in the neighbourhood of Fritzow, near Cammin, in 
Pomerania" (36 pp.), to which he afterwards added a 
continuation and completion in 14 pages. 

In 1838 Kloden was urgently requested to extend 
his geognostic researches to the Altmark, which 
request, however, he was obliged for the time to 
refuse. In 1841 he was made corresponding member 
of the " Schleswig-Holstein, Lauenburg, and Mecklen- 
burg Branch of the Union for inquiring into the 
Geognostic Conditions of the Baltic Lands." 

But practical results also were not wanting to 
Klo den's geognostic researches, and especially his 
discovery of the brown-coal strata near Rauen (Furs- 
tenwald) called into existence a mining industry 
which became of great importance to the inhabitants, 
and a source of wealth to the owners. Notwith- 
standing that a special railway was constructed for 
the transport of the coal, it was scarcely possible to 



332 THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

carry off as much as was required. A fountain of 
blessing had been opened to the whole neighbour- 
hood — the beautiful fruit of silent scientific inves- 
tigation. 

Kloden had published most of his works — such, 
for instance, as the " Contributions to the Mineralogic 
and Geognostic Knowledge of the Mark Branden- 
burg," and the "Science of Petrifactions" — with- 
out any remuneration. They had cost him consider- 
able sums of money in journeys and collection, had 
rendered great service to others, but he himself had 
gained nothing more from them than that his name 
was affixed to a district of coal-mines and petri- 
factions near Fiirstenwald. But pecuniary gain had 
not entered into his account ; all he thought of was 
diffusing the knowledge which he acquired, and 
making it profitable for others. In him, the self- 
educated man whom all must honour, and who was 
so inly convinced of the practical value of knowledge, 
there was not the faintest trace of that arrogance of 
learning which is so apt to make the exclusive cliques 
of scientific men priggish and ridiculous. His labours, 
however, at the Gewevbe-^ohoo\ arduous and engrossing 
as they were, did not satisfy his philanthropic zeal, 
and he carried on at the same time an almost un- 
broken course of loving activity on behalf of the 
popularization of science. 

The town-councillor Naumann, assessor of the 
joiners' guild, had taken up the ideas expressed by 
Kloden in his school programme of 1827 concerning 
the further cultivation of those engaged in industrial 
pursuits, and by means of this paper and one written 



APPENDIX. 333 

by G. Brougham on the same subject he had aroused 
among the journeymen of the guild the wish to hear 
a course of lectures on geometry. Kloden gladly 
undertook to lecture to them on this subject twice a 
week, and the eagerness and regularity with which 
his audience attended caused him great pleasure. 
Classes for a more cultivated audience were also 
organized by the curatorium of the school, with a 
view to making the forces and materials of instruc- 
tion of the institution available in larger circles, 
and for nearly thirty winters Kloden continued to 
lecture at these with unabated zeal and enthusiasm. 
In the space of twenty-two years, beginning at the 
year 1826, he delivered — 

4 courses on universal physics. 



2 


55 


on experimental physics. 


1 


55 


on the doctrine of heat. 


1 


55 


on the connection of the natural sciences. 


5 


55 


on physical geography. 


7 


55 


on astronomy. 


2 


55 


on the first part of Humboldt's " Kosmos. 



How numerously these lectures were attended is 
shown by the fact that for five different subjects it 
was necessary to arrange double courses, and to give 
an idea of the character of the audience it need only 
be said that in one and the same winter General von 
Liitzow (leader of the celebrated "Wilde Jagd"), the 
President of the Berlin Society of Naturalists, the 
Privy Councillor Dr. Kluge, the Evangelical Bishop 
Dr. Neander, and the present General Field-marshal 
Count Roon, were members of it. At first the 
lectures were only delivered to men, but afterwards 
ladies also attended them, and in constantly in- 
creasing numbers. 



334 THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

From the commencement of the year 1831 Kloden, 
at the instigation of the curatorium of the Weber 
Institute, began to give Sunday lectures to artisans. 
These he continued during fourteen winters, and 
delivered eleven courses on geometry, one on trigo- 
nometry and stereometry, and one on mechanics. 
Before the Geographical Society he delivered a sharply 
critical lecture on Dr. Vollmer's " Pictures of Nature 
and Customs in Tropical Lands" (printed in the 
Kritischen Biicherschau von Berghaus Annalen, June, 
1831 : 20 pp.). 

In 1833 he wrote a preface to Dr. G. Friedenberg's 
translation of Charles Babb age's " Economy of 
Machinery and Manufactures" (Berlin, Stuhr) ; and 
in the Jahrbucliern fiir ivissenschaftliche Kritih (July, 
1833, No. 6) he wrote a review of a work also 
translated from the English, and entitled " The 
Results of Machinery." In Exell's " Journal of 
Architecture" (Parts 3 and 4) he published, in 1830, 
a " Guide to the Knowledge of the most Important 
Natural Building-stones and their Use, adapted to 
Architects who have had no previous instruction 
in Mineralogy." For Trowitzsch's Calendar of 
1834 he wrote a treatise on "The Conducting of 
Hail." 

Separate articles of Kloden's appeared in the 
Vereinigten Geschichts-, Haushaltungs-, und Garten-Ka- 
lender and in Gilbert's " Annals of Physics," one of 
which, on the observation of the mixing of fire-balls 
with star-shoots, Alexander von Humboldt cites in the 
first volume of his " Kosmos." (This article will be 
found in the 72nd vol. of " Gilbert's Annals," p. 219.) 



APPENDIX. 335 

But specially noteworthy are a large number of 
instructive essays and critiques which Kloden wrote 
in the Vossische Zeitung. Of these I will mention 
the following : — 

On the Nature of the Stone of the great Berlin Granite Bowl. 

1830, No. 128. 

Account of the Northern Light of January 7, 1831. 1831, No. 8. 
On the Northern Lights seen formerly in the Mark Brandenburg. 

1831, No. 8. 

On Von Leonhard's Work on the Basalt Formations. 1831, No. 10. 

On the Temperature of Plants. 1831, No. 16. 

On the metal " Vanadin," newly discovered by Sefstrom at Fahlun. 

1831, No. 106. 

On the Higher Gewerbe -school at Hanover. 1831, No. 138. 
On Red Beeches as Lightning Conductors. 1831, No. 174. 
On the Prophecy of a Flood in 1524, in connection with the Out- 
break of Cholera. 
A New Island which has appeared near Neustadt on the Dosse. 

1832, No. 191. 

On the Mammoth Bones found on the Kreuzberg. 1832, No. 206. 

American Bugs. 1832, No. 249. 

On the attempt to Drive Steam-carriages on ordinary Country 

Roads. 1832, No. 282. 
On the Natural History of the Three Kingdoms by Von Leonhard, 

Leuckart, Blum, Bischof, and Voigt. 1833, No. 134. 
On the Stroboscopic Discs of Professor Strampferof Vienna. 1833, 

No. 167. 
On the Winter of this Year and similar Mild Winters in Earlier 

Times. 1834, Nos. 31 and 33. 
On Preusker's Suggestions with regard to Sunday-schools and 

GWrfo-schools, &c. 1834, No. 110; and 1836, No. 114. 
On Miiller's New Spirit-lamps. 1835, No. 79. 
On the Manufacture of Sugar from Beetroot in Russia, with regard 

to Prussia. 
On Baruch Auerbach's Jewish Orphan- school at Berlin. 1836, 

No. 116; and 1845, No. 102. 

Kloden was obliged to reject a great many proposals 
from publishers : as, for instance, G. Reimer's offer 
to publish the physical lectures which he delivered 
in the winter of 1827-28 and Hoffmann of Stutt- 
gart's request in 1835 that he would write for 
hi3 publication a compendium of geographical 



336 THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

natural history. Kloden had not leisure to under- 
take all this additional work, for just at that time 
unusual demands were made on his time. We find 
him at times overwhelmed, either by the Ministry 
or the magistrates, with requests for reports on 
scientific works ; and these he always executed with 
remarkable care and accuracy, to which the criticisms 
of Major- General Ruhle von Lilienstern's " Universal 
School Atlas" (1825), of Von Leonhard's " Text-book 
of Natural History," or of Wagner's "Natural 
Science" bear striking witness. And then what an 
enormous correspondence arose out of the endless 
questions addressed to him by officials and private 
people, to whom his versatility and obligingness were 
well known ! Either it is the agricultural deputation 
of the town who have sent him specimens of Berlin 
amethyst quartz from the magistrates' limestone 
quarries for him to examine, or stones on which 
traces of crystallization are visible ; or the police 
authorities wish to be informed whether it would be 
dangerous to sink Artesian wells in Berlin ; or 
petrified bodies are sent to him from far and near, 
generally "just a matter of fifty pieces," with, the 
request that he will examine and classify them, and 
have the kindness to return them as soon as possible : 
now we find the magistrates of small towns applying 
to him for catalogues and estimates of apparatus for 
natural history instruction ; now some one "venturing 
to ask him" what is the way to proceed in order to 
open up and utilize a brown coal stratum, &c, &c. 

In the meantime, Kloden's house had gradually 
become the centre of an unostentatious, but at the 



APPENDIX. iw 

same time an intellectual and genial sociability. He 
possessed in a rare measure the gift both of keeping 
conversation up to a certain height, and enlivening it 
with spicy jokes and telling anecdotes. In the 
midst of the social circle he could distribute freely 
from the riches of his learning without ever falling 
into the manner of the pedagogue, and he had a 
wonderful power of placing himself with sympathizing 
kindness on the mental level of those who came 
under his instruction. This was the secret of those 
masterly explanations which astonished and delighted 
all who heard them. 

His agreeable poetic talent was also frequently 
turned to account for the adornment of society. 
Festive poems, wedding-eve verses, and such-like 
compositions were penned by him in great numbers, 
and many of them have been printed. He displayed 
marvellous power of invention in celebrating in verse 
the Christmas festival — that festival which, from his 
boyhood up, he had loved with such sincere devotion, 
and which it was now his constant endeavour, for 
those who belonged to him, to elevate into the conse- 
crating point of family-life. 

Ever by his side stood his faithful and loving, but, 
alas, much-suiFering wife ; and the son and daughters 
growing up around them brought the element of fresh 
youthfulness to the family circle, which, especially 
when gathered together in the garden, presented a 
picture such as none who formed part of it can ever 
recall to mind without mingled joy and emotion. Not 
seldom was the charm of such moments enhanced by 
the sound of good music from the neighbouring conccrt- 

VOL. II. z 



338 THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

garden. But the great day of rejoicing and festivity was 
always the 21st of May, the birthday of the master of 
the house, when the garden was wont to be fragrant 
with the scent of May -blossom and alder trees. It 
was on one such 21st of May, in the year 1831, and 
while Weber's festive song, " Deck the house with 
branches green " (" Schmtickt das Haus mit griinen 
Zweigen "), came floating through the trees, that 
Kloden's future son-in-law, Friedrich Willi elm J aim, 
found himself for the first time at the house. 

On the 29th of October, 1834, Kloden celebrated 
his silver wedding. He had been present the evening 
before at a most cordial entertainment given him by 
the pupils of the GW^rfo-school, who clung to their 
director with the same warmth of veneration and 
love that of old the Potsdam seminarists had shown 
for him — ay, and still continued to show, as many 
affectionate letters received by him during his four- 
teen years' absence from among them testified. 

It was at this time that Kloden began to occupy 
himself seriously with astronomy. In the year 1832 
appeared the " Introduction to Astronomy by means 
of an Astrognosticon designed for the Horizon of 
Berlin" (Berlin, Simon Schropp: 80 pp.)? with a double 
mounted astronomical chart, made to turn in its hori- 
zon. This book contains an account of the plan of the 
astronomical chart, with the meaning of its lines and 
circles ; a list of the different constellations, with a 
description of them ; an alphabetical index of such 
stars as have particular names, with the pronunciation 
and meaning ; and, lastly, a table for the correction 
of time. The chart is designed in stereographic 



APPENDIX. 339 

projection, the eye being supposed to be at the south 
pole as usual. 

Simultaneously with the publication of this astro- 
gnosticon, Kloden began to bring out in the Vossische 
Zeitung those yearly articles which gave a clear and 
instructive account of the astronomical phenomena of 
the coming year. I append a numerical list of these 
articles : — 



1832, No. 26 

1833, No. 5 

1834, No. 13 

1835, Nos. 1 and 2 

1836, Nos. 4 and 5 

1837, Nos. 4, 5, and 6 



1838, Nos. 4 and 5 

1839, No. 3 

1840, No. 3 

1842, No. 3 

1843, No. 4 



Amongst the other astronomical treatises written 
by Kloden in the Vossische Zeitung we may specially 
notice the critical reviews of the contemporaneous 
and important works of Joh. Heinrich von Madler, 
viz. : — 

On the Map of the Moon, executed by W. Beer and Dr. J. H. 

Madler. 1834, Nos. 59, 249, 250 ; 1835, No. 201. 
A Dissertation on the work of Beer and Madler, entitled, " The 

Moon, both in its Cosmic and Individual Aspects ; or, General 

Selenography/' 1837, Nos. 198, 199. Generalblatt, 1837, 

No. 260. 
On Madler's Abridged Description of the Moon. 1839, No. 185. 
On Madler's Popular Astronomy. 1841, Nos. 24, 25. 

To a man of Kloden's peculiar genius, in whom the 
desire for new knowledge went on increasing in pro- 
portion to his acquisition of it, and whose whole 
nature was bent, not so much on the minute perfecting 
of one small corner of learning as on the extension 
and connection of manifold departments, the study 
of the life of nature in stones and stars could not 
possibly afford lasting satisfaction. A desire to know 

z 2 



34Q THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

something also concerning the life of humanity, to gain 
clear ideas about the manifestations and developments 
of the human mind, could not fail to take possession 
of him, and this desire naturally led him to history. 
And how significant is it of the inductive mind, of 
the man of observation, that it is the history of his 
own near neighbourhood, of his native land, which 
he first seeks to master. As his geognostic explo- 
rations were made on native ground, as his intro- 
duction to astronomy was based on the astrognosticon 
planned for the horizon of Berlin, so his historical 
investigations grow out of the soil of native topo- 
graphy. Already, since 1830, he had been working 
at a broadly -planned and comprehensive "Monograph 
of Berlin," which, unfortunately, was never quite 
finished, and has remained in MS. As such the 
work extends to 404 quarto pages, which, in 
the microscopic hand in which all Kloden's MS. is 
written, is equal to 540 pages of ordinary print. 
But he was soon to come forward in connection 
with the work which has undoubtedly exercised a 
more direct and far-reaching influence than any of 
his other works, and for ever bound up the name of 
Kloden with the written history of our fatherland. 
We find the first indication of the warm interest 
which he took in the treatment of the history of 
Brandenburg in his short essay on Von Ledebur's 
publication of "Archives bearing on the History of the 
Prussian State" (Vossische Zeitung, 1831, No. 18), in 
which he laments that the Mark does not, like nearly 
all the surrounding provinces, possess a union for the 
study of home antiquities. "A province," thus he 



APPENDIX. 341 

concludes his observations, " which is of such im- 
measurable importance in the history of the develop- 
ment of the Prussian state, that it may with justice 
be called the heart of the state, well deserves to be 
studied carefully and accurately in its earlier epochs, 
and an account of its growth from the earliest times 
down to our own day, compiled in the true spirit of 
history, would be a worthy task for the pen of a good 
historical writer. This is the opinion of many. May 
their wish not be stifled in the hubbub of our age ! " 

It is he himself, a fewyears later, who meets this wish, 
not, it is true, for the whole compass of the history of 
the Mark, but at any rate for those epochs of it which 
appear as the most remarkable and decisive in its 
development. In the years 1836 and 1837 appeared 
his work entitled, " The Mark of Brandenburg under 
the Emperor Charles IV. down to its first Hohen- 
zollern Regent; or, The Quitzows and their Times. 
With three copper-plates and a facsimile of the hand- 
writing of Dietrich von Quitzow and Henning von 
Stechow" (4 vols., 2,047 pp.). Berlin : C. G. Liideritz. 
To the second edition, which appeared in 1846, an 
index and register are added. 

One of the most remarkable sections of German 
history generally, and the history of Brandenburg 
specially, a period of some fifty years, is here brought 
before our eyes in the freshest and most vivid colours. 
A careful study of original sources, and that accurate 
knowledge of the country and the people which Kloden 
gained during his frequent school and geognostic 
excursions, form the basis of this work. But in 
addition to accurate research and a rare mastery of 



342 THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

topographic details, there enters a third factor — the 
shaping power of poetic imagination working freely 
in the mind and spirit of history. Every feature, even 
the most minute, which the history of that stirring 
age presents, is conscientiously preserved and utilized; 
each fact retains its full historic weight; but the 
faded tints are reproduced with all their original 
freshness and in the true colouring of the times 
(language alone excepted), and a continuous history 
of the principal personages is wrought into the 
whole. 

The words in which Joseph Victor Scheffel intro- 
duces his "Ekkehard," "This book was conceived 
in the honest faith that neither history nor poetry 
would suffer from joining hands in close friendship 
and uniting in a common work," might with equal 
right be placed at the beginning of " The Quitzows." 
The scenery and the habitations of the Mark, its 
illustrious families, its famous men, stand out before 
the reader with wonderful distinctness and no less 
wonderful truth and fidelity of construction. This 
book introduces us to the knowledge of that age in 
which all our later institutions are rooted, in which 
the illustrious house of Hohenzollern was called to 
the government of the Mark ; and it gives a peculiarly 
striking example of that century- old struggle which 
under new forms is for ever going on between the 
necessity for social organization and the equally strong 
necessity of individual freedom. But the interest of 
the work is not exclusively confined to the Mark. 
All the surrounding countries, Anhalt, Saxony, Mag- 
deburg, Mecklenburg, Pomerania, Prussia, &c, are 



APPENDIX. 343 

also described according to their then existing con- 
ditions ; the council of Constance is depicted in vivid 
colours ; and indeed, owing to the double relations of 
the Luxemburg princes to the Mark and to the 
empire, the history of Brandenburg countries at that 
time was of necessity peculiarly closely connected 
with the general history of the empire. 

The first three volumes of this book were published 
anonymously ; only in an epilogue which concludes 
the fourth volume does the author make himself 
known. Great was the sensation caused by its ap- 
pearance, and it was read by young and old with 
equal delight and enthusiasm. Not a few, however, 
among professed historians held themselves coldly 
and distantly aloof. They knew full well that no 
future historical inquirer would be suffered to dis- 
regard a work which brought so many new facts to 
light and rectified such countless errors, and that all 
the less as each single fact adduced had been care- 
fully traced to its origin ; but these gentlemen 
considered themselves justified in being annoyed, if 
not hurt, by this poetic popularization of historical 
events. Such a mode of treating history seemed to 
them no less than a sacrilege. Only quite lately 
Leopold von Ranke in his " Genesis of the Prussian 
State " (Leipzig, 1874) has expressed himself to the 
same effect. At page 67 he says: — "It is to be 
regretted that Kloden in his ' Quitzows ' should have 
mixed up history with romance. He had talent for 
both. He understood the art of reading authentic 
records, and with the help of his admirable topogra- 
phical knowledge he was able to put them together, 



344 THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

and in the sections of his work which belong to 
romance, he gives us scenes that even a Walter Scott 
could not have surpassed." Not all historians, how- 
ever, appear to have shared in this opinion. Joh. 
Wilh. Loebell, at the end of his " Sketch of the Epochs 
of Historiography and their Relation to Poetry," dedi- 
cated to Tieck in 1840, very soon therefore after the 
appearance of "The Quitzows," speaks as follows : 
— " Amongst the over-abundant productions of his- 
torical romance we must distinguish two entirely 
different species. The one consists of arbitrary, 
hollow inventions, to which historical characters are 
added as framework to enhance the effect, so that in the 
midst of a crowd of puppets we see illustrious kings, 
queens, statesmen, clergymen, poets, &c, clothed in 
an external costume which is more or less true to life, . 
but one and all of them entirely destitute of inner 
truth ; figures which, themselves without life, cannot 
impart life to their fictitious neighbours, but rather 
borrow from their deadness — a dazzling bit of scene- 
painting without soul, and without a leading idea. 
But in a few other works the poetic conception rests 
on the foundation of true historic insight and inspira- 
tion ; we feel that the writer has penetrated deeply 
into the times and their significance ; all that is 
imaginary in his work stands in the closest and most 
intimate connection with, and serves to illuminate 
and vivify, what is true ; poetry and history mutually 
ennoble and elevate each other." It would scarcely 
be an error to regard these concluding words of 
Loebell, who, as author of the " Commentatio de 
origine Marchise Brandenburgicas," was personally 



APPENDIX. 345 

bound up with historical research in the Mark, as 
applying to Kloden's " Quitzows." We find the 
author himself, however, repudiating the notion that 
a " romance " is contained in his work ; " for it would 
have been an eccentric proceeding to treat the history 
of a whole country during an entire generation and 
a complete picture of the times as romance ; and, 
moreover, the literary citations in the book, which 
would have been quite out of place in a novel, might 
have saved it from such a verdict." This ought 
certainly to be a decisive means of distinction ; con- 
sidering, however, the great importance of this whole 
question, and that it is one which in these very days 
we see struggling towards its solution in works of 
considerable depth and beauty, it would not be unin- 
teresting to repeat here the substance of what Kloden 
says on the subject in the already mentioned epilogue 
to "The Quitzows:" — 

" All historical descriptions may be compared to pictures, which 
represent more or less faithfully the life of a given epoch, but 
in all of which the influence of the particular school and method 
of the painter makes itself felt. Many of these, and especially 
the accounts of chroniclers, resemble slight sketches easily drawn 
.with innocence, simplicity, and naivete, but to a certain extent in 
lines which it is difficult for us in later times to decipher in 
their full significance. Others, as for instance the old records, 
are mostly nothing but genre sketches and incomplete portrait- 
figures which have faded with time and are difficult to interpret, 
even for those who make history their speciality. And, never- 
theless, these chronicles and records supply the best materials 
that we can obtain for the representation of a medieval period. 
All other early historical accounts are mere colour without 
drawing. 

" Now, it is quite possible for a skilful hand to construct a 
picture out of these ancient images and figures, by simply striking 
out whatever is superfluous, arranging the essential parts in order, 
and bringing them in in their right places, and, without filling 
up the blank spaces, reproducing a single faded line, or applying 



346 THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

any colour. Such an historical picture is given us, for example, 
in GL v< >n Raurner's admirable ' Brandenburgische Register,' of 
which it is to be regretted that only one part has as yet been 
published. For the true historian — or, to continue our analogy, for 
the able draughtsman — these half -effaced lines and faded colours 
are no obstacle to the hearty enjoyment of the picture, which he 
himself invests with life, colour, and movement : the skeleton gains 
flesh ; the dry tree green leaves ; the empty space becomes misty 
distance ; — the historian knows how to read between the lines. 

" The majority of mankind, however, are incapable of this kind 
of enjoyment, and there are very few people who would care to 
hang up in their rooms a picture which only here and there showed 
distinct lines and recognizable colour, and on which time had left 
deep traces. But suppose a painter to approach the picture, 
suppose him to follow with a careful brush each indicated line, 
each faint trace of colour, and to reproduce them in their original 
freshness (though with the stamp of his own particular manner), he 
will have done what the historian should and must do in order to 
transform the faded image of past centuries into a picture which 
can be understood by his contemporaries. For the history of the 
Mark, Wohlbriick's works are unsurpassed models of this kind of 
conscientious reproduction. In most cases, however, it is not 
enough merely to reproduce what is indicated by surviving lines 
and patches of colour ; it is further necessary to restore to each 
figure all that is indispensable to it, and which must have existed 
formerly, though no line or scrap of colour remains to bear witness 
to its existence ; and here the painter must trust to his own genius, 
and cannot guarantee that he has reproduced the original form with 
complete fidelity. He must also put in lines of connection, which 
may perhaps scarcely be indicated, in order to give unity to the 
separate parts, and it is possible that these may receive under his 
pencil a different character. From restoration of this kind the 
historian cannot escape, if his picture is not to be full of gaps, 
imperfect, and fragmentary ; and even though he may not go so 
far as Livy, and put into his heroes' mouths long speeches which 
they might have made, he cannot altogether avoid arbitrary inter- 
polations. The gifts of combination and penetration, the faculty 
of conjuring up vividly circumstances and persons — in one word, 
poetic power — must guide his hand, and with this power no 
historian can dispense, even if he adheres rigidly to what is indi- 
cated. His representations will not cease to be history from the 
introduction of the poetic element, but rather through it they will 
first become history, because only then will they receive fluency 
and connection. 

" But if the historian confines himself to adding only as much 
of his own as is absolutely required to produce connection, he has 
done no more than the painter who only restores such figures as 



APPENDIX. 347 

are indicated by accidentally remaining lines. The old picture 
cannot be said to be restored when these figures only stand out 
vividly, and the whole background, the trees, the air, and the sky, 
are left incomplete because the indications were too scanty, or 
perhaps were altogether wanting". Shall we insist on the restorer 
leaving great blank spaces, notwithstanding he is convinced that 
the whole picture was once completely filled in in the spirit of its 
painter and its age, notwithstanding that from the character 
of what remains he can arrive with tolerable certainty at the 
character of what has been lost? Who shall blame him if he 
endeavours to restore each component part in the spirit of the 
original picture, guiding himself as far as he can by the indicated 
lines, but where these fail allowing his own creative power to 
work freely and uncontrolled, save by reg'ard for harmony ? 

" This is what I have done, and it is a very different thing 
from writing an historical novel. I have endeavoured before all 
things to recover the lines of the old picture in their original 
purity, and for this purpose I have diligently compared all the 
known records and chronicles bearing on my subject. From the 
later representations of this period I was obliged to wash away, 
in many places, great daubs of colour which had been laid on by 
unskilful hands, and which quite transformed the original picture, 
although they gave themselves out as strict historical repre- 
sentations, and were accepted as such, notwithstanding their 
caricatured form. I succeeded in discovering a great many more 
of the original lines of the historical picture than had hitherto 
been known, and I followed these with the most assiduous care, 
in order to penetrate closely into the spirit of the picture. I 
then set to work to reproduce the picture, and, unlike my prede- 
cessor, I strove with the utmost fidelity not to efface one of 
the given lines, but to restore the drawing and colouring accord- 
ing to the character of the old picture. Where all lines were 
missing, I endeavoured by means of combination, and within the 
given space, to supplement what was lost, and in so doing I made 
conscientious use of every single point, and of each faintest 
indication, without change of position. The by-parts I was obliged 
to construct anew, to the best of my ability, in harmony with 
the rest of the picture, and here I was guided by a point of 
view of which I shall speak later — whether successfully or not, 
the voice of the public may decide. How anxiously I strove 
to restrain my fancy within the narrowest limits, the smallest 
space, will be seen when I say that for the greater part of my 
book I might have given many more citations than I have done, 
and that there is not a gale of wind or a moonlight night alluded 
to which does not, even to the day of its occurrence, rest on 
historic foundation. In a novel, such a course would have been 
pedantic in the extreme, but with the aim I had in view it was 



348 THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

not unsuitable. Even the conversations, which might be considered 
to impart a romantic character to the book, are in great measure 
such as must necessarily have arisen out of the situation, and 
only relate in dialogue what would otherwise have had to be 
told with less life and individuality in narrative, or else, as in 
many places, they are the literal utterances of real people, which 
have been preserved to us by history, and for which what goes 
before only forms a necessary introduction. By the references 
given underneath the text, and by the correspondence of events 
with these references, it is everywhere easy to distinguish what 
belongs to actual history from what is only the product of the 
imagination. 

"How altogether differently does the novelist proceed — even 
the historical novelist ! He copies two or three principal figures, 
more or less faithfully, from some old picture, and makes these 
the centre of his composition, fashioning the attitudes and drapery, 
the foreground, middle ground, and background, in keeping, it 
is true, with the character of the figures and the times, but 
otherwise according to his own fancy, and guided solely by poe- 
tical exigency, often not even retaining pictorial resemblance. 
Sometimes, too, only the secondary objects are taken from old 
pictures, and such a course cannot be condemned when it is only 
a question of the free working of poetic genius ; but it is widely 
different from the way in which I proceeded. If the difference 
between romance and history consisted solely in greater or less 
deviation from truth, I might boldly assert that the greater part 
of what has hitherto been circulated as historical truth, through 
the most serious historical works, concerning the persons depicted 
in my book, approaches in an enormous degree nearer to romance 
than anything that I have written. From this charge, however, 
I except (x. von Raumer's fine treatise on this period, in his 
' Codex Diplomaticus Brandenburgensis continuatus' (t. i. p. 33, seq.), 
which, in spite of its brevity, contains more genius and truth than 
the most circumstantial narratives hitherto published. 

" History, however, has not only to deal with persons and 
events but also with circumstances ; these too must be represented, 
and can easily be combined with the former, and constructed in 
such a way as to form an attractive and instructive picture, 
without giving the rest of the narrative the character of romance. 
Who that knows Barthelemy's ' Travels of the younger Anacharsis 
in Greece ' is not delighted with the spirited manner in which he 
introduces us to Hellenic manners and customs? Who would 
ever think of calling this book a novel, notwithstanding that these 
travels are purely imaginary ? ' If it be allowable to compare the 
lesser with the greater, I may say that the desire to produce 
something of a similar nature with regard to the conditions of 
my own country in the middle ages was floating in my mind. 



APPENDIX. 349 

Hitherto these had been little known even to the people of the 
country, much less to foreigners. With this object in view I was 
careful always to get my information from first sources, and a 
large proportion of the records which I consulted were extremely 
rare, and only existed in MS. It was from such documents that 
I produced my delineations of manners and customs, but the 
topographical descriptions were made from special local knowledge 
which I had acquired in the course of my scientific studies, and 
from plans and surveys hitherto unknown. . . . Thus I may 
venture to assert of my book, both that it is a compendium of the 
history of the country during the epoch portrayed in it, and that 
it comprises in its descriptions, which relate to the most various dis- 
tricts, all that this soil has produced of most noteworthy up to the 
fifteenth century. Here, too, fidelity was everywhere my chief aim ; 
in a pure work of fiction this would not only have been unneces- 
sary, it would have been extremely inconvenient into the bargain, 
as it would perpetually have hindered the free flight of imagination. 
Now, whether greater or less poetic power is required for the 
imagination to spin its threads, as in the case in point, from bough 
to bough, or for it to wing its flight freely in the wide ether, are 
questions which it seems to me resolve themselves into this one : 
does nature exhibit more creative force in her organizations on the 
smallest scale than in those on the largest ? I have occupied 
myself with both, but cannot undertake to answer the question. 

" Under these circumstances my book cannot be so interesting 
to the general reader as a novel. The mere fact that it contains 
the substance of whole records, however attractive this may make 
it to the careful explorer and student of history, is enough to scare 
away ordinary readers. For those, however, who bring with 
them to the study of it interest in the country and its history, it 
will afford not only entertainment but also instruction — possibly, 
too, enjoyment ; even though they should not know in which of 
the acknowledged classes of writings it ought to rank. Lovers of 
classification might not be altogether wrong if they placed it under 
the head of coloured history. All that I lay claim to is to have 
given a lively, historically faithful narrative, penetrating into the 
spirit of the times, and not, I hope, wholly without spirit of its own, 
and embracing a somewhat wider scope than the stern muse of 
History is wont to do without the aid of her amiable sisters." 

On the 31st of July, 1838, Kloden was made a 
member of the "Union for the Study of the History 
of the Mark Brandenburg," newly founded by Riedcl. 

The influence of "The Quitzows" on the public of 
the Mark was strengthened by Louis Schneider's 



350 THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

dramatic adaptation of the subject. His play was 
performed as a national drama for the first time on 
the 21st of May, 1846, in the Berlin opera-house, and 
Kloden justly designated it as an historio-physiognomic 
drama, and an excellent mirror of the times. 

While working at "The Quitzows" Kloden had been 
led back to Berlin, and the result was a series of 
studies of this town, amongst which the "Explanation 
of a few Sections of the old Berlin Records" (266 pp.) 
appeared in three successive Gewerbe-school pro- 
grammes, from 1 8 3 8 to 1 840. B ut a far more extensive 
work on the same subject has remained in MS., viz., 
" The History of Berlin," which though it only takes 
one up to the year 1839 covers 874 quarto pages, 
equal to about 1,300 pages of ordinary print. As a 
kind of abstract of this work, possibly also as an 
intended precursor, appeared a pamphlet " On the 
Origin, the Age, and the earliest History of the Cities 
of Berlin and Cologne : A Contribution to the History 
of the Germanization of the Slavish Districts. With 
a Map and Plans" (361pp.). Berlin: Liideritz. 
As Kloden's twenty years' geognostic labours 
prompted him to construct an hypothetical system 
of the history of the origin of the earth, so his local 
historical studies led him to an analogous construc- 
tion in the field of local history. He says in his 
preface : — 

" It seems to me by no means a work of supererogation to 
elevate to probability what has hitherto been altogether uncertain, 
even though it be impossible to arrive at certainty, which indeed 
should always be striven after. Whoever has studied the history 
of the past, not in compendiums and manuals, but in its sources, 
will not treat probability contemptuously as a thing of no value, 



APPENDIX. 35i 

for such an one knows well that no history at all could be produced 
if all that is merely probable were eliminated from the records of 
the middle ages and only that which is certain retained. We 
should have nothing more than fragmentary, scanty, barren notices, 
more isolated than the chimneys of a burnt-down village ; the 
ghastly skeleton of a vanished existence. He who sets before 
himself the task of writing or studying history must be content to 
pass from one firmly established point to another over the some- 
times wide-spanned bridge of probability, which frequently offers 
but a narrow footing, on which it is no easy matter to preserve 
one's equilibrium. The interpretation, moreover, of authentic 
records is itself often no more than hypothetical, much oftener 
indeed than people are inclined to believe ; for to the right under- 
standing of these documents the power of reconstructing the times 
in which they were written, and of transporting oneself vividly 
into the midst of past circumstances and conditions of life, is 
essential ; without this poetic faculty, which does not, however, 
appear to be very common, we may arrive at the literal meaning 
of the words, but we shall rarely grasp their full significance and 
force. 

" If, then, probability can alone give continuity to history, it 
ought always to be welcome to us as a lesser form of truth ; and 
especially should we be satisfied with it when it is a question of 
the history of the development of an individual : for this seems to 
be the will of nature whether with regard to historical or physical 
individuals. Can we pretend that our knowledge of the origin of 
a plant, of an animal, of a human being, of a town such as Athens 
or Rome, of whole kingdoms even, is at the best anything more 
than hypothetical? We find everywhere first a period of mythical, 
secondly one of probable, and thirdly one of tolerably certain 
history. But no true historian will ever disregard the first two 
periods." 

He then proceeds to show us in a most inter- 
esting and carefully worked-out book, and with a 
degree of probability bordering on truth, that both 
these towns were considered important places as 
early as under the Wendish rule ; he makes it pro- 
bable that Cologne already existed in very early times 
as a Wendish village ; he endeavours to establish the 
conjecture that Berlin was originally a German 
trade colony founded by the town of Magdeburg in 
the year 960, and then goes on to show with decided 



352 THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

verisimilitude in what manner the development of 
Berlin and of Cologne may have proceeded up to the 
time of their coming under German dominion, re- 
ceiving German municipal rights, and finally trenches, 
ramparts, and walls. And for all these theories he 
gives indirect proof. 

Kloden had said in his preface, u I shall be grateful 
for any enlightenment contributed in a scientific 
mind and spirit." The appearance of this book, 
however, gave rise to a controversy which it is all the 
more lamentable to be obliged to notice here, as the 
author of it afterwards did good and active service, 
especially as collector, in the cause of Berlin history, 
and has only quite lately been deservedly feted as a 
chief among Berlin historians. Herr Fidicin it was, 
the keeper of archives, and publisher of the " Historio- 
diplomatic Contributions to the History of Berlin," 
who felt himself called upon, not merely to contend 
against isolated points in Kloden's book, but to 
dispute, step by step, each conclusion established, each 
separate assumption — in fact, the entire book — and 
to denounce it as false and inaccurate in his pamphlet 
headed u The Founding of Berlin : A Critical Disser- 
tation on the Age, &c, of the Cities of Berlin and 
Cologne : " a proceeding which drew forth from 
Kloden the publication of an " Answer to Herr 
Fidicin's pamphlet, 'The Founding of Berlin.' With 
one Plan" (272 pp.). Berlin : Gropius. 1841. This 
book, though properly speaking only a refutation 
of Fidicin's attack, presents a series of historical 
treatises which rivet the attention, and which are of 
much greater value and interest in themselves than 



APPENDIX. 353 

as refutations of the adversary. With regard, how- 
ever, to all that is purely polemical Kloden exhibits 
such unflinching acumen, such force of logical reason- 
ing, that no one can put down the book without 
feeling that the assailant would have done better not 
to have begun a contest in which he is beaten on 
almost every side. 

It must be allowed, however, that what Kloden 
says of himself (page 290), " It is one of my weak- 
nesses that my feelings are easily roused in writing, 
and that I often grow bitter without knowing it or 
wishing it," is also applicable to his refutation of 
Fidicin. 

But however distressing and disheartening such a 
controversy may and must have been to him, it did 
not for a moment rob him of his delight in historical 
studies. In the year 1840 appeared his pamphlets 
on the " History of Mariolatry, especially in the 
Mark of Brandenburg and the Lausitz during the 
last Century before the Reformation" (160 pp.), 
Berlin : Llideritz ; and the " History of the Life and 
Reign of Frederick William III., King of Prussia " 
(390 pp.)? Berlin : Plahn. These writings are again 
closely connected with indigenous history. With 
regard to the first, the intention was not to give 
a comprehensive history of Mariolatry ; the scope 
of geographical investigation becomes more and 
more limited the more the worship of the Virgin 
develops itself. The other sprang chiefly from 
an affectionate wish to draw the portrait of a 
beloved prince after his death, and to open up 
all the sources of information to which at the 

VOL. II. 2 A 



354 THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

time the author had personal access. It is a 
plain, chronicle-like, unpretentious piece of bio- 
graphy. Kloden himself says in the preface : "As 
one cannot possibly survey a building in all its parts 
and estimate it rightly when one has scarcely gone 
outside the door, so is it likewise impossible to 
treat the immediate part even historio-artistically, 
much less critically. ... I did not, therefore, 
undertake to give an analysis of the King's character 
and reign, but rather a picture of it." 

Two treatises of this time have remained un- 
printed, the one on the " Method of determining the 
Sunday Letter, with Tables on the Golden Number, 
the Epacts, and Easter" (5 quarto pages) ; and the 
other on u The Christian Calendar" (19 quarto pages). 

Kloden's was a sociable nature, and the companion- 
ship of sympathizing fellow-workers stimulated him 
always to specially energetic activity. This was 
particularly noticeable in his capacity of Freemason ; 
and his power of speaking fluently and eloquently 
before a large assembly, of easily finding words and 
rhymes for festive songs, and of giving noble ex- 
pression to earnestness and gaiety, dignity and 
gentleness, in word and deed, contributed to increase 
from year to year the estimation with which he was 
regarded in the lodge. He rose to a high degree of 
honour, and on the 21st of May, 1839, his fifty-third 
birthday, the portrait of Brother Kloden was hung 
up by the brethren of St. John's Lodge — "Friedrich 
Wilhelm zur gekronten Gerechtigkeit " — in their 
banquet hall. This portrait is a life-size painting 
in oil by the painter Schoppe. 



APPENDIX. 355 

In September, 1840, Kloden was made correspond- 
ing member of the a Nederland Maatschappij ter 
bevordering van Nijverheid r (Society for the Pro- 
motion of Industry at Haarlem), and on the 1st of 
January, 1842, honorary member of the " Zeltersche 
Liedertafel." In November, 1844, he became a 
member of the Berlin Polytechnic Society. 

Meanwhile, the character of his family-life had 
been altered by the growing-up of his children. On 
the 1st of August, 1835, his younger daughter Ida 
was married to the composer F. W. Jahn, after- 
wards Royal Professor and Musical Director ; and in 
1840 his son, Dr. Gustav Adolf Kloden, the geo- 
grapher, was appointed regular master at the Gewerbe- 
schooi, and married the daughter of Krause, Coun- 
cillor of Commerce at Swinemunde. The peaceful, 
retired monotony of his student-life in Berlin, to 
which the breath of the outer world only came 
through participation from time to time in court 
festivities, was varied by short summer excur- 
sions to Pomerania and Saxony, and repeated 
visits to the baths at Teplitz with his wife, who 
suffered greatly from gout. In 1845 he went to 
Wahlstatt with the family of his son-in-law, to visit 
the then Captain Borbstaedt, afterwards so renowned 
as a military writer, for whom he had a warm friend- 
ship. In company with him he made an excursion 
to the Riesengebirge and the Ober-Lausitz. In 
October of the same year he was present at the 
assembly of directors and schoolmasters of the Real 
and higher Burgher schools at Meissen, of which he 
wrote an account in the VossUche Zeitung (1845, No. 

2 a 2 



356 THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

236). During these years he had gathered together, 
with remarkable judgment and method, a really fine 
library, an admirable cabinet of shells, and a small 
but very good collection of paintings. 

Meantime he continued his historical studies 
zealously. In the programmes of the Gewerbe-^o\\ooi 
from 1841 to 1843 there appeared a monograph 
" On the Position of the Merchant in the Middle Ages, 
especially in North Germany " (3 parts, 264 pp.). 
This monograph is of great value as a history of 
culture, but unfortunately, owing to its having come 
out in detached parts, it did not become nearly so 
well known as, according to the judgment of com- 
petent critics, it deserved. 

After the appearance of the " Researches of the 
Mark," published by the " Union for the Study of 
the History of the Mark of Brandenburg " (Berlin : 
Gropius), Kloden wrote, as contributions to this 
publication, an essay, in 1843, on "The Author of 
the ' niedersachsischen (Buch'-schen) Glosse zum 
Sachsenspiegel und des Richtsteigs ' (54 pp.) ; a 
treatise, in 1845, on the ancient famous hunting- 
ground of the Brandenburg princes entitled, "The 
former Great Moor of Werbellin " (34 pp.) ; and, 
also in 1845, a treatise on the "Mythology of the 
Wenden Country, with the Places of Worship : An 
Attempt at establishing their Identity" (98 pp.)- O n 
this last publication a lively correspondence grew up 
between Kloden and Kuhn in the " Union for the 
Study of the History of the Mark Brandenburg," 
which led to Kloden 's writing an " Anti-criticism 
of Kuhn's Critique on the Wen dish Gods." 



APPENDIX. 357 

The following articles of Klo den's appeared in the 

Vossisclie Zeitung : — 

On the Stralau Fischzug. 1832, No. 203 ; and 1835, No. 198. 
Provost Nikolaus von Bernau : A contribution to the Science of 

how to make oneself a Name in the History of the World. 

1837, No. 197. 
Contributions to the History of the Town Hall of Berlin. 1837, 

Nos. 267 and 268. 
The oldest Sepulchral Monument in Berlin. 1838, No. 27. 
The Monastery Church at Berlin. 1838, No. 34. 
A few Words about the Death of Joh. von Hohenlohe. 1838, 

No. 34. 
On the Map of the Prussian State and the adjacent Countries east 

of Berlin, in 23 sheets, drawn by F. B. Engelhardt. (Berlin : 

Simon Schropp.) 1838, No. 232. 
Jottings on Kohlhafenbriick. 1838, No. 292. 
On the Thiergarten at Berlin, its Origin and its Vicissitudes, accord- 
ing to Authentic Records. 
On Block's work, " The real Birthday of Christ." 1843, No. 178. 
On the work of the President von Bassewitz, u The Kurmark 

Brandenburg during the period from October 22, 1806, to the 

end of 1808." 1852, No. 178. 

Meanwhile another great historical work, and one 
which was as highly important as it was comprehen- 
sive, had come to maturity. For more than ten 
years Kloden had been collecting materials for a 
history of Margrave Waldemar of Brandenburg, of the 
house of Anhalt, a,nd by availing himself freely of 
the general archives of the ducal house of Anhalt, 
which had been placed at his disposal by the personal 
interest of the Duchess, he had made a collection of 
nearly three thousand documents, of which more 
than five hundred were in MS. On the foundation 
of this abundant material he had since 1839 been 
compiling his " Diplomatic History of the Margrave 
Waldemar von Brandenburg. Compiled from the 
original archives " (4 vols, with tables and maps ; 
1,956 pp.). Berlin : Simion. 1844 to 1846. 



358 THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

The method which Kloden adopted in the treat- 
ment of his subject is in the main the same as authors 
of diplomatic histories have hitherto followed. He 
makes use of all the collected records of the time, 
authenticates more or less every document, and 
prints 109 hitherto unknown records with diplomatic 
accuracy, so that digests could without difficulty be 
compiled from them. But everywhere the regulating 
mind shows itself; and in order to vary the narrative 
and enrich it with incidents, he makes the histories of 
the different princely houses or lines alternate periodi- 
cally with one another, and the course of events is 
either introduced or broken by socio-historic pictures 
of the age, which give an insight into the then con- 
dition of the world, invest the facts with their true 
colouring, and give the key to the study of the 
history of those times. 

The work is divided into two principal sections 
under the following separate titles : — " Diplomatic 
History of the Margrave Waldemar of Brandenburg, 
from 1295 to 1328" (2 vols, with tables and two 
maps) ; and " Diplomatic History of the supposed 
Pretender Margrave Waldemar of Brandenburg, from 
1345 to 1356" (2 vols, with three maps). The maps 
were of Kloden's own projection and drawing, and 
they place before us the Brandenburg provinces in 
the years 1300, 1319, 1345, 1348, and 1356. 

In the preface to the second edition of his work 
Kloden sums up the opinions which at successive 
times had been held concerning the so-called " Pre- 
tender Waldemar," and shows how strangely they had 
varied. During Waldemar s lifetime most people, 



APPENDIX. 359 

according to Benesch's statement, considered him as 
the rightful Margrave, but after his death he came to 
be looked upon as an impostor ; and this opinion was 
clung to without investigation, and solely on the 
strength of the imperial decree, for three hundred 
years. Then, however, the matter was examined into, 
and the result was that the majority of those who were 
capable of forming an opinion decided in favour of the 
justice of his claims. This decision was first vindicated 
in 1549 by the Merseburg Syndic, Ernst Brottuf, 
in his MS. " Chronicles of the Royal and Princely 
Family of Saxony." His lead was followed by Jean 
Baptiste de Rocolles, historiographer to the great 
Elector, who in " Les Imposteurs Insignes," which he 
published at Amsterdam in 1683, defends Waldemar 
on grounds of information supplied him by the 
Anhalt Hofrath von Raumer. De Rocolles' evidence 
was confirmed and added to in the " History of the 
Princely House of Anhalt," published in 1710 by 
Joh. Christ. Bekmann ; and Bekmann, as well as 
Gundling in his " Imperialia," declared themselves 
decidedly in favour of Waldemar's identity. And in 
1750, B. L. Bekmann, in his "Noctes Joachimici," 
brought forward with great detail still fresh proofs 
on the same side. But soon after this the opinion of 
learned men underwent a revolution, which was begun 
by D. C. F. Pauli's treatment of the Waldemar episode 
in his " General History of the Prussian State," and 
which reached its completion, when in 1771 Ph. W. 
Gerken, the famous authority on Brandenburg 
history, published in his "Miscellanies" a critical 
account of the "comical debut of the impostor 



360 THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

Waldemar " ! In virtue of the great reputation which 
Gerken had justly established as an antiquary of the 
Mark his opinion was accepted without further exami- 
nation for the space of eighty years. Then, however, 
after the worthy Stenzel had already suggested doubts 
as to the justness of Gerken's views, Kloden came 
forward and expressed himself in favour of the great 
probability of Waldemar s identity. Gerken was only 
acquainted with thirteen Waldemar records; ten 
more were published after him, and besides these 
Kloden printed other eleven and gave the contents 
of five imprinted ones ; and so from the mere fact of 
his having more abundant materials at command 
it is presumable that his opinion was the more 
correct. " Whether or no," says Kloden, "the period 
of Waldemar's being considered an impostor is now 
at an end, it remains for the future to decide ; but I 
sincerely hope that my book will not fail in its 
endeavour to show the great advance which has 
meantime been made from mere conjecture towards 
certain knowledge." The question however was not 
settled by Kloden's work : he himself only claims to 
have established probability, and quite lately Leopold 
von Ranke appears again on the opposite' side, when, 
in his " Genesis of the Prussian State," he remarks : 
" We shall never get beyond the opinion of the jury 
of the time. They said that ' if they were called 
upon to swear whether he was the right man or an 
impostor they would rather swear the latter.' " 

In order to render possible the publication of this 
costly work the King had subscribed for one hundred 
copies. 



APPENDIX. 361 

In March, 1845, Kloden was made knight of the 
first class of the Anhalt Family Order of Albrecht the 
Bear. 

A numerous collection of preliminary and supple- 
mentary works, which have also great intrinsic value, 
had grown up by the side of his principal historical 
works and were found amongst the property left at 
his death. The following is a list of them : — 

Index to Documents relating to the Monasteries of the Mark (120 

quarto pages). 
Braudenburgisch Digests for the History of the Margrave "Walde- 
mar and the Bavarian Regents in the Mark (2 parts, quarto). 
Geographical Indices to — 

Gerken's Codex Diplomaticus Brandenburgens's. P. i. — viii., 
&c. Tom. spec. i. (40 quarto pages). 
„ FragmentaMarchica. P. i. — vi. (8 quarto pages). 
„ Records concerning- the History of the Origin of 

Brandenburg (8 quarto pages). 
„ Diplomataria veteris Marchiae Brandenburgensis. 
T. i. and ii. (8 quarto pages). 
Riedel's Diplomatic Contributions to the History of the Mark 
of Brandenburg. Part i. (8 quarto pages). 

And the MS. treatises on the " Dominican Monastery 
and its Church at Neu-Ruppin" (2 quarto pages), 
and " The Rhyme Chronicles of the Mark " (4 quarto 
pages), belong also to this collection. 

The monograph on the position of the merchants 
during the middle ages led to a work on " The 
Earliest History of Trade in the Mark," which 
was never completed, and of which we have about 
130 quarto pages. In the same unfinished state we 
find the plan, materials, and part of the execution of 
a " History of the Herring Trade ; " and also a 
treatise on the "Former Abundance of Fish in the 
Mark Brandenburg" (12 pp.). Then from the year 
1845 there appear in the programmes of the Geicerbe- 



362 THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

school, in all, eight articles (738 pp.), " Contribu- 
tions to the History of the Oder Trade." The first 
seven of these articles relate to Frankfort- on-the- 
Oder; the last, in the programme of 1852, to Stettin. 
A new arrangement with regard to the programmes, 
by which, instead of as hitherto the director only 
writing treatises in them, the masters took it in 
turn to do so, prevented the further publication of 
this series of articles. 560 MS. quarto pages have 
remained un printed, as also a carefully prepared 
index of materials. It is much to be regretted that 
this work should not have been completed, for it is 
just monographs of this kind that we are in so great 
need of. Kloden says, in his introduction : — 

" A Universal History of Commerce can only grow out of special 
histories which must furnish the materials for it. Something 
more is needed than mere commonplace expressions, philosophical 
phrases, and pompous periods. What question can be definitely 
settled without any knowledge of facts and circumstances ? Who, 
for instance, will venture to assert that the commerce of Venice 
and Genoa was more important and extensive than that of the 
Hanseatic League, or the reverse, when he has no knowledge in 
either case of the extent of import, export, and production of mer- 
chandise ? . . . . We are as yet far from being able to decide 
such a question. 

"The materials for a special history of commerce during the 
middle ages lie deeply hidden, and can only be brought to light by 
means of great labour. We must not go to the chronicles, which 
have mostly emanated from the monks and clergy, for information 
on a subject that did not concern the writers closely enough or 
present sufficiently remarkable features for them to think it worthy 
of their notice. Only such matters as the receipts of tolls, the 
roads where tolls were to be paid, the establishment of markets, 
the rights of settlement with compulsory roads, which questions 
were considered as coming under the jurisdiction of the squire, 
were regulated and fixed in the town records. The utmost that 
was added to them were some prohibitory laws of exportation ; 
all the rest was left to the towns and merchants to settle for 
themselves. But while commerce thus enjoyed unbounded freedom 
from interference from above, it was hemmed in in an extraordinary 



APPENDIX. 363 



manner from below. Mow these restrictive regulations are all 
that we find in the old records concerning commerce ; there is 
never any allusion to its greatness, its activity, its extent, its chief 
seats and marts. We have rich commercial towns in the records 
of which there is no mention of the merchants, and wherever they 
are mentioned in records it is generally casually. Thus we have 
mostly a very insufficient basis on which to build up our conclu^ 
sions. The utmost that we can do is to avail ourselves of all the 
starting points that we can find, to connect them skilfully together, 
and, resting on these, to introduce all the known facts in their 
proper places. . . . Such a mode of proceeding requires, it is 
true, both circumspection and caution, but it is the only one that 
can be adopted in this case. How far it may leal cannot at 
present be determined ; but above all it seemed to me indispen- 
sable to discover the old commercial roads." 



In conjunction with the publisher of " Waldemar," 
the Berlin bookseller M. Simion, Kloden brought 
out, in the five years from 1844 to 1848, a " House 
and Pocket Calendar," which contained essays from 
Kloden's pen only. The first of these, running 
through the years 1844 to 1847, was a "Treatise on 
Water" (4 parts, 125 pp.). Then in 1845 appeared 
an essay on the " Founding of the Monastery Lehnin " 
(26 pp.). In 1846 " The Hussites in the Mark Bran- 
denburg" (20 pp.). In the years 1847 and 1848 
"Duke Hans of Sagan" (35 pp.). In 1848 "An 
account of the Feuds of Wedego, Bishop of Havel- 
berg " (5 pp.). And finally a treatise on the " Periodi- 
cally recurring Natural Phenomena " (14 pp.). 

The contents of some of the above articles show 
that in spite of the preference given to historical work, 
Kloden had by no means laid aside his pursuit of the 
natural sciences. To do so was indeed all the less 
possible for him, as the scientific lectures which he 
delivered treated chiefly of natural science, and it was 
necessary for him to keep up steadily with the litera* 



364 THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

ture of this subject. In 1843 we find him engaged 
in an animated correspondence on petrifactions, and 
busily collecting them. But even more than to 
geognosy and the science of petrifaction, he devoted 
himself at this period to astronomy. In 1847 he 
wrote his work, " The Starry Firmament : A Com- 
plete Manual of Astronomy, with special reference 
to the Great Map of the Heavens of the ' Landes- 
Industrie ' Office" (575 pp.). Weimar : published by 
the '" Landes-Industrie " Office, 1848. This book 
was written in consequence of a request from Wei- 
mar. It contains, after a finely written introduc- 
tion, the division of the celestial globe ; a history 
of astronomy, and introduction to the knowledge 
of the stars arranged according to the constella- 
tions; treatises on the origin of the constellations, 
on the mythological signification of the old ones^ and 
the origin of the new ; and finally a representation of 
the solar system and the star system of the sun. 

In 1849 he executed a great wall-map, which was 
to a certain extent a supplement to his " Starry 
•Firmament ;" and which was published under the 
title of " The Planetary System of the Sun according 
to the latest Discoveries." Weimar : published by the 
Geographical Institute, 1850. In the open spaces 
of the beautifully engraved sheet are inserted — 
Tables of the relative proportions in the sizes of 
the planets, and of the elements of their orbits, as 
well as the different representations, viz., of the 
inner and middle groups of planets, of the orbit 
of the moon and its phases, a map of the moon, dia- 
grams of the zodiacal light and the comet of 1811, of 



APPENDIX. 365 

Jupiter, of Saturn, of Mars, and two groups of solar 
spots of 1825. 

And finally, the great solar event of 1851 prompted 
the publication of a brochure on "The Great Solar 
Eclipse of July 23,1851" (19pp.). Berlin: Plahn, 1851. 

To the number of printed works on natural science 
written at this time belong also an essay " On the 
second part of Humboldt's ; Cosmos'' (30 pp.), in 
vol. 122 of Poggendorfs " Annalen fur Physik und 
Chemie ; " a considerable number of articles written 
in 1842 for the " Handworterbuch der Chemie und 
Physik;" and the following articles, which appeared 
for the most part in the Vossisclie Zeitung : — 

On the Spots of the Sun. 1840, No. 268, and 1842, No. 47. 

On the Solar Eclipse of July 8, 1842. 1842, No. 157. 

On an Astronomical Clock of Lieder's. 1843, No. 141. 

On Meissner's Tellurium and Lunarium. 1843, No. 171. 

On Gaudin's and Von Beguelin's New Illuminating" Apparatus. 

1844, No. 90. 

On the last Lunar Eclipse (May 31, 1844). 1844, No. 127. 

The Produce of the Westphalian Spinning-schools (at the Berlin 

Technical Exhibition). 1844, No. 205. 
On the Winter of this Year. 1845, No. 76. 

On Humboldt's " Cosmos." 1845, Nos. Ill, 112, 115 ; 1848, No. 44. 
On the Origin of Amber. 1845, No. 114; 1854, No. 188. (See 

Gumprecht's Essay, Vossisclie Zeitung, 1856, No. 11, on the 

great Amber Find near Prenzlau.) 
On " The Stars and the History of the World," bv F. Y. (Eberty). 

1846, No. 90. 
The Solar Eclips3 of April 25. 1846, No. 95. 
On Dr. Nlirnberger's " Popular Astronomical Dictionary." 1846, 

No. 168. 
On Engelhardt's "Map of North Germany," in twenty-four sheets. 

1845, No. 192. 

The Great Solar Eclipse of October 9, 1847. 1847, No. 253. 
On Brix's Alcoholometer. 1847, No. 260. 
On Euler's Mechanics. 1848, No. 5, and 1850, No. 9. 
On Dove's Isothermal Epochs in the Months. 1850, No. 9. 
On Solar Eclipses, especially that of July 28 of the current 3 T ear. 
1851, Nos. 167, 168, and 174. 



366 THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

On Hertz's " History of Clocks." 1851, No. 271. 

On a Strange Astronomical Phenomenon in the year 1855. 1854, 

No. 239. 
On an impending High Tide. 1855, No. 215. 

Three natural history treatises have remained in 
MS., viz. : — "A few Observations on the appearance 
of Gravel and Chalk Formations with and in the 
Porphyry of the neighbourhood of Teplitz " (not quite 
completed) ; u The Anorthoscope of Plateau" (4 quarto 
pages) ; " On the Construction of Barometers " (6 
quarto pages). 

A great meteorological work begun in 1847 and 
finished about 1854 has also unfortunately remained 
in MS. It bears the following title : — "The Colours 
of the Sky and the Atmosphere, deduced and proved 
Mathematically." The book is divided into seven prin- 
cipalsections under the following titles: — Introductory 
Remarks on the Behaviour of Steam and Vapours in 
the Atmosphere — Closer Examination of the Vapour of 
the Atmosphere — Closer Examination of the Vapour 
of our Atmosphere — On the Height and Extent of 
the Atmosphere — On the Explanations which have 
hitherto been given of the Colours of the Sky (from 
Aristotle and Leonardo da Vinci down to Becquerel) — 
On the Influence of Solar Light on a Globule of 
Water — Application of the lessons contained in the 
book to the phenomena of nature: at noon, at 3 
o'clock after noon, before sunset, at sunset, after sun- 
set, in the night, before sunrise, at sunrise, and before 
noon. The book covers 200 quarto pages of MS. 
(about 300 of ordinary print) and is furnished with 
thirty-six diagrams. 



APPENDIX. . 367 

On the 21st of May, 1846, the clay on which he 
completed his sixtieth year, Kloden was promoted by 
the Philosophical Faculty of the Berlin University to 
the rank of Doctor honoris causa. This honourable 
advancement to an academic distinction which the 
circumstances of his youth had rendered it impossible 
for him to attain in the accustomed comfortable 
manner, caused him great pleasure ; and no less was 
he gratified by the presentation to the Gewerbe- school 
of a life-size oil-painting of himself — the original of 
the portrait in the present book. The resemblance of 
this picture and its wonderful life and expressiveness 
excited universal admiration, and Kloden's delight 
over it was all the greater for the reason that the 
young and talented artist who was the donor of the 
valuable gift, the painter Kalchbrenner, had himself 
been a pupil of the Gewerbe-$okoo\. In the evening, 
amongst a small circle presided over by Karl Ritter, 
a solemn inaugural feast (Doctor schmaus) was held ; 
and the editor of these memoirs often still delights to 
think that he, then a nine-year-old child, was taken 
out of bed in order to make a " fourteenth " in the 
venerable assembly. There are certainly not many 
people who can say that they assisted at their grand- 
father's " Doctorschmaus !" 

Three days later Kloden celebrated the twenty -five 
years' jubilee of his freemasonship, and on the 21st of 
January, 1847, he received the order of the Red Eagle 
of the third class with the bow. 

The year 1848 found in him too sober and well- 
balanced a man to be carried away to any extreme. If 
we were to apply to him the party nomenclature of 



368 THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

the present day, we should designate his politics as 
Liberal- Conservative. In the autumn of this year he 
and his son made an excursion together to Hamburg 
and Cuxhaven, and the following year during the 
dog-days they paid a visit to Gernrode. 

On the 18th of October, 1849, the festival of the 
twenty-fifth anniversary of the founding of the Gewerbe- 
school was celebrated in the midst of a small assembly. 
The proceedings began in the morning, when Kloden 
was greeted with choral singing in the garlanded hall, 
and a memorial, in the shape of a silver goblet, pre- 
sented to him by the first master, Professor Dr. Kohler ; 
the deputations then took their places in the hall, and 
after more choral-singing, Kloden delivered an address 
in which he went over the history of the school from 
its foundation to the present time, alluded to all the 
masters who had officiated in it, and gave the number 
of pupils who had hitherto studied there as 2,108. 
He then made a statement of the different avocations 
on which the 721 pupils who had passed out from 
the two upper classes had entered. 273 had gone 
into trade ; 209 had taken up industries of all sorts ; 
118 had devoted themselves to agriculture and the 
management of forests; 25 to the fine-arts; 18 had 
become soldiers; 21, officials; 5, sailors; 4, school- 
masters ; 32 had passed into other educational insti- 
tutions, especially the Royal Gewerbe Institute, and 
16 had eventually studied at the university. Kloden 
omitted giving any names, in order that the large 
number of those who could not be mentioned should 
not feel themselves slighted ; but now, after such a 
lapse of time, we may venture to make known the 



APPENDIX. 369 

names of a few of the men who were trained in the 
Geiverbe-school. In the ranks of architects and 
engineers it boasts among its pupils such men as 
Schwedler, Privy Chief Councillor of Architecture in 
the Prussian Council of Trade, whose name is for 
ever associated with the construction of railways ; 
Hitzig, Privy Councillor of Administration and 
Architecture, to whom Berlin owes one of her 
most beautiful districts, the Victoria Strasse, and 
the magnificent edifices of the Exchange and the 
Bank ; the Councillor of Architecture, Professor 
Adler, who was equally successful as practical 
architectural artist and as art historian and teacher, 
and whose sphere of industry thus coincided 
in many points with Kloden's ; and the engineer 
Kosse, who built the first railway in the far west, 
in Texas. Amongst men of learning, Kloden's own 
son, Professor Dr. Gustav Adolf von Kloden, the 
distinguished geographer, stands first on the list; 
and after him Dr. Wilhelm Mahlmann, who went 
through all the classes of the Gewerbe-school as free 
scholar, and died all too early, renowned as one of 
the most distinguished of meteorologists ; the admir- 
able geognost and chemist, Professor Sherer of Frei- 
berg ; the mineralogist Girard, of Halle ; the mathe- 
matician Dr. Weingarten, professor at the Berlin 
Academy of Architecture, and member of the 
European Commission for the measurement of de- 
grees ; and Wilhelm Eichens, optician of the Paris 
Observatory. In the ranks of artists, Gustav Richter, 
the famous historical and portrait-painter, stands pre- 
eminent ; then Hermann Eichens, copper-plate en- 
vol. ii. 2 b 



370 THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

graver at Paris; Jordan, painter of Heligoland 
life ; Amberg ; Kalchbrenner, whose name has 
been gratefully mentioned above; Professor Weiss, 
director of the cabinet of engravings, and author of 
the classical " Kostiimkunde ; " and, finally, Albert 
Wagner, the skilful court goldsmith to his Majesty 
the Emperor. Amongst men of business we may 
mention the banker Mendelssohn-Bartholdy ; Charles 
James Cockerill in Seraing ; Heckmann, one of the 
largest factory-owners of Berlin; Fahndrich, director 
of the Vienna gas manufactory ; Spindler, proprietor 
and manager of one of the most famous dyeing 
establishments of Germany, <fcc., &c. 

At the close of Kloden's address, one of the pupils 
of the first class stepped forward and recited a poem 
written for the occasion by Professor Dr. Rosen- 
berg, which I will insert here in an abridged form, 
as it fitly indicates the scope and aim of Kloden's 
labours: — 



Lift up your hearts upon this joyful day, 

With awe to God and sing Him songs of praise 

And lofty exultation ; for that He 

These sacred strivings hath with blessing crowned. 

For, let the heart of man crave what it will, 
Wisdom is still the best of all things good ; 
How fair it flowers, with pious virtue joined, 
And early planted in the human soul ! 

So didst thou deem, good Founder Barensprung, 
Didst deem of what thy heart was set to do ; 
And with thee, the great city's fathers wrought — 
Ah, be their memory held in reverence ! 



APPENDIX. 371 

What labour was too great for such an aim ? 
But as a frail bark, on the wide expanse 
Of ocean rocking, it lay all unguided — 
Where is the pilot that shall guide the bark ? 

O song of jubilee, rise high and higher ! 
For thou canst name the man, the chosen one — 
Chosen from the first to take the unfathered helm. 
And steer the rocking vessel to its port. 

A master he, among the minds that know ; 
Be it the science of the firmament, 
That walks the heavenly spaces, or that other 
Which finds the secrets of the under- world. 

This is the man, so wise to know, to think, 
To turn the torch upon the darkling years, 
The early days and deeds of Fatherland, 
And give the silence of the past sweet speech. 

But most of all we praise the firm, kind will, 
The soul of truth that nobly dwells in him ; 
Unwavering he in duty's steepest path ; 
See where he marches first, a guide to all ! 

So may the seed thou sowest, gracious friend, 

Under God's favourable eye spring up 

A hundred-fold into the far-off years, 

Till children's children rise to call thee blest ! 

Haydn's chorus, " The heavens are telling," termi- 
nated the proceedings. In the evening, when the 
schoolmasters and their friends were gathered to- 
gether in friendly concourse in the school building, 
the whole body of pupils formed a solemn torchlight 
procession in honour of the director, bearing seventy 
torches; and, led by a musical choir, they sang festive 
songs composed for the occasion, gave three cheers 
for Kloden, the school, and the masters, and ended 

2 b 2 



372 THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

By throwing all their torches together with shouting 
and hurrahing ; and while music and song filled the 
air, bright stars smiled from the clear heavens through 
the crimson clouds of billowy smoke. 

Kloden spent the Whitsuntide of 1850 with his 
friend Wiesike, the manorial proprietor at Plane on 
the Havel — ground which his work, "The Quitzows," 
had rendered classical to him. This place agreed with 
him so well that he repeated the visit several times 
in the following years. In the summer of 1850 he 
accompanied his son-in-law's family to Dresden ; 
and he spent his autumn holidays at Sttilpe, the 
hospitable seat of his friend the Hofmarschall von 
Rochow. 

At the beginning of the year 1851 he had to 
lament the death of the Privy Councillor of Medicine, 
Professor Dr. Link, director of the Botanical Gardens 
of Berlin, and a distinguished naturalist, in whose 
company Kloden's son had travelled over the south 
of France, Italy, and Greece, and with whom, from 
the circumstance of his being Grand Master of the 
lodge " Royal York " — to which Kloden's daughter- 
lodge belonged — Kloden himself had been most 
intimately connected. On the occasion of the 
funeral, on the 2nd of February, Kloden, as Deputy 
Grand Master, delivered a "Memorial Speech on 
Heinrich Friedrich Link." And now Kloden himself 
became Grand Master of the Great Lodge of Prussia, 
" Gen. Royal York zur Freundschaft ; " and as such 
he, in company with the Grand Masters of the great 
rural lodges of Germany and the great national 
mother-lodge, " zu den drei Weltkugeln," received 



APPENDIX. 373 

His Royal Highness the Crown Prince into the order 
of Freemasons. 

His close occupation with Brandenburg history 
had led Kloden to the study of the annals of the 
nobility of the land ; and he had thus been brought 
into' personal intercourse with several noble families 
of the Mark. The publication of "The Quitzows" 
had resulted specially in friendly relations with the 
house of Rochow; that of "Waldemar" brought him 
into connection with Herr von Krocher, magistrate 
of the Altmark. A " Collection of Materials relative 
to the Earlier Nobility of the Mark" was found 
among the property left at Kloden's death. 

Amid such occupations it was impossible but that 
his glance should be again and again directed to the 
past history of his own family, and by degrees he 
collected together an abundance of authentic records 
concerning the house of Kloden such as but feAV 
noble families probably possess. Before, however, 
proceeding to work up these materials, he undertook 
of his own accord, after an Easter visit at Herr von 
Krocher's at Vinzelberg, to put into methodical order 
the " Documents for a History of the Family of Herr 
von Krocher" (310 pp.) with genealogical tables and 
impressions of seals. A learned critic says concerning 
this work and others : — 



" If we wish to learn anything about the people in most of the 
German countries during the middle ages, it is to the family 
histories of the nobility that we have to go, for in them traditions 
and records are preserved which tell of things that the general 
history of those times, a barren account of State actions as it was, 
did not think it worth while to relate. It is true that if we go 
back to the earliest times we find these family histories made up 



374 THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

of the most imperfect fragments ; the mere name of a man of 
noble birth occurring- as witness to a record of some unimportant 
sale is often a comparative treasure ; and if we wish to ascertain 
the age of an illustrious family, we have to depend on conjecture 
alone for joining together the scattered, scanty pieces of the 
genealogical tree. But nevertheless it is only from such skilfully 
and laboriously compiled accounts of the beginnings of historical 
families, as this book and others before it give us, that we obtain 
the general idea of and insight into our national history which we 
strive in vain to get from the works of the celebrated historians 
who believed that chronicles and State records supplied them with 
all the information that was needed. And even if the greater 
part of these family records is but chaff, we often, when we least 
expect it, come upon a grain of corn which, properly utilized, 
throws light upon whole dark epochs of history. Thus in 
Kloden's book we become acquainted with a knight of the house 
of Krocher, whom our historical books scarcely even mention, and 
who must nevertheless have been one of the most important 
statesmen of his time, active in all the great movements of the 
fourteenth century in the Brandenburg-, which extended from 
Dresden to Dantzig, and which, under the last of the Ascaniers, 
played almost an European part. The knig'ht, Droisike von 
Krocher, is the man whom, from a confused heap of nothings, 
our author constructs with mathematical certainty into a highly 
important and influential personage, and in so doing he gives us 
most interesting glimpses into the history of the last Ascanier, 
viz., the great Waldemar." 

His residence at Vinzelberg, which lies in the im- 
mediate neighbourhood of the village and manor of 
Kloden, thus enabling him to make acquaintance with 
the localities round which the family records collected 
during so many years centered, could not fail to pro- 
duce a deep impression on Kloden. For long years he 
had been content to dispense with the nobility which 
his father had discarded, though he had always been of 
opinion that in so doing his father had committed a 
wrong towards his descendants ; now, however, it 
seemed to him a duty to redress this wrong with, re- 
gard to his own posterity. " Karl Friedrich," says 
Kloden in the Family History, of which we shall speak 



APPENDIX. 375 

anon, "knows full well that nobility in itself cannot 
elevate any man or woman ; he knows well that its 
advantages rest on an illusion; this, however, does not 
detract from its worth. Illusions cannot be dispensed 
with in this world, and it is to them that human 
beings owe much of what makes their happiness and 
gives its value to their existence. Well for them if 
such illusions exercise at the same time an ennobling 
influence on their characters, which is especially pos- 
sible with the one in question ! Karl Friedrich has 
lived long enough without noble rank to think that 
he is in a position to give an opinion as to its merits 
or demerits." At the beginning of the year 1853 
he addressed himself to the King, to whom he sub- 
mitted, the documents relating to his ancestry and 
birth, with the request to be allowed to resume his 
nobility, and his request was granted by a royal 
decree dated the 25th of January, 1853. 

By this step Kid den had restored the historical 
continuity of the family. " A name," he says, 
" handed down from a long line of ancestors, is an 
inheritance which a man dare not lightly trifle away ; 
which he should rather cherish with respect and 
veneration. In order to make himself acquainted 
with the genealogy of his own ancestors, Karl Fried- 
rich had, during his historical studies of many years, 
carefully collected any information he came upon 
relating to his family history, and these materials 
were considerably added to when he obtained access 
to the secret archives of the State and the archives at 
Kloden and Schonfeld ;" and now he proceeded to 
work up the " History of an Altmark Family during 



3/6 THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

Successive Epochs, from its Origin down to the 
Present Time. Compiled from Authentic Records 
and Family Papers" (610 pp.), with a map and seal- 
impressions. Berlin, 1854. 

" I have not been content," he says in the preface, " to give a 
mere catalogue of names with chronological data ; as far as my 
information enabled me I have also depicted the circumstances 
and surroundings of individuals, and I have been careful to record 
everything which could help to characterize generations and 
people. But these descriptions could not receive their full signi- 
ficance and colouring without being considered in connection with 
the contemporaneous history of the country and the prevailing 
genius of different periods. It was, therefore, necessary to intro- 
duce the principal facts of the history of the land; and in so 
doing it was my endeavour to give prominence to those events 
which most strikingly exemplified the individuality of particular 
periods, and to describe them in greater detail than others. This 
is, as far as I know, the first attempt of the kind to relate the 
history of a family from the twelfth century down to the present 
time. ... In the general historical narrative the reader will 
meet with many facts hitherto little known, or even quite un- 
known, not to speak of numerous rectifications of errors. With 
regard to individual history, I have often, with the least possible 
alteration of language, kept word for word to the original docu- 
ments, as it seemed to me that the picture would thus best gain a 
colouring true to the times." 

It will thus be seen that the plan which he pur- 
sued in this Family History is similar to that of 
Gustav Freytag's " Ahnen" (Ancestors), with this 
exception — that Kloden does not treat his materials 
poetically, but in a strictly historical manner, even 
preserving historical continuity. 

After a general historical introduction he dilates 
on the name " Kloden" and the localities of the 
name, and the arms, origin, and previous history of 
the tribe of Franks who migrated into the Altmark at 
the beginning of the twelfth century. He then gives 
a topographical-historical description of the neigh- 



APPENDIX. 377 

bourhood of Kloden within a radius of seven or eight 
miles from the central spot. On this small patch of 
ground forty-eight noble families lived for centuries 
long. Only seven of them are flourishing at the 
present day : — Von Bismarck, Von Kloden, Von 
Pieverling, Von Gravenitz, Von Rochow, Von 
Borstel, and Von Schonebeck. Then follows the 
history of the family of Von Kloden during twenty 
generations, from 1180 to 1854. 303 persons are 
mentioned — 86 knights and squires, 38 officers, 1 
hofmarschall, 1 hofrichter, 2 castellans, 1 councillor, 
1 hunting-page, 2 patrician aldermen, 1 excise official, 
7 provosts or canons of cathedrals, 4 clergymen, 1 
school-director, 1 professor, 66 country-squires, boys, 
&c, 40 married women, nees Von Kloden, 5 nuns or 
sisters of mercy, 1 school-directress, and 45 spinsters. 
In his finely-worded preface the author says with 
regard to his ancestry : — " For more than seven 
centuries, ever since there have been Margraves of 
Brandenburg, the name of this family has been 
known ; one Kloden has followed another. The 
number of men and women who have borne this 
name is by no means insignificant. None of them 
have made it highly renowned, few have made it 
feared ; let us hope that the greater number have 
made it beloved. The family boasts of none among 
its members worthy to rank with the heroes of man- 
kind. It does not belong to the great and illustrious 
houses, but in the middle walks of life it counts many 
a noble warrior, clergyman, official, agriculturist, &c, 
who have worthily fulfilled their vocations and been 
blessings to their fellow-men." Appended to the 



378 THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

book is a list of the thirty-five manors and villages 
which the family owned, and of the twenty-eight 
places in which they possessed taxes, farms, and 
revenues. The book was published by subscription. 

It was at the time that Kloden was working at this 
book that death first knocked at his door. In May, 
1852, he was seized with a severe stroke of apoplexy. 
His intimate friend and family doctor, the Privy 
Councillor Dr. von Lauer, discovered a chronic 
catarrh in the ramifications of the windpipe, which 
had a disturbing eiFect on the circulation of the 
blood, and worked out into the lungs. He prescribed 
for him rest, bracing forest air, and pine-cone waters. 
Accordingly Kloden spent the summer of this and 
the following years, till 1855, in the pine-encircled 
watering-place of Ruhla, in the Thuringian forest, 
where his health improved wonderfully. The time 
spent there was so peaceful and pleasant to him that 
at the end of his second visit he took leave of the 
place in a long poem, "Farewell to Ruhla," which he 
published in the Ruhla weekly paper, in order to 
gain new friends for this lovely neighbourhood. 

" Wo, vom Geader quellenreicher Bache 
Gefurcht, der Pfad am Felsen niedersteigt." 

(" Where, furrowed vein-like by innumerable streams, 
The path leads down the rock.") 

Then he sings the praises of this rural industrious 
spot, with its then still rarely visited watering- 
place — 



APPENDIX. 379 

" How oft have I beneath the shadow of thy limes, 
There where the Giesbach dashes foaming down, 
Stilly dreaming-, and while soft winds round me blew, 
Heard with foreboding" heart the whisp'ring of the leaves ! 
How, 'neath thy balmy breezes' healing breath, 
Lightly and freely did my bosom swell ! 
So do the heavens grow clear when from the air 
The vapoury clouds descend as mist." 

But the improvement, alas ! was only of short dura- 
tion. The apoplectic attacks were repeated during 
the following years, though less severely. Kloden, 
however, did not desist either from his activity in 
and for the school, or from his literary labours. He 
was at that time occupied with a " History of the 
Reformation Period in the Mark Brandenburg," of 
which, however, he never did more than write down 
the sketch, and work out a few of the biographies. 
Of such he has left complete in MS., " Bartholomaus 
Rieseberg" (18 quarto pages), and " Johannes 
Cario, Astrologer of the Elector Joachim I." (5 
quarto pages). In connection with these studies of 
the Reformation times, we have also a treatise on 
"The Welsh in Augsburg as Possessors of Vene- 
zuela, and the German Expeditions then occasioned 
by them " (Zeitschrift fur Allgemeine Erdkunde. 
Vol. v. D. Reimer, 1855). In the year 1855 there 
appeared further: — " Andreas Schliiter: A Contri- 
bution to the History of the Art and Architecture 
of Berlin " (252 pp.), with two plates, showing the 
ground-plan of the royal castle of Berlin. Berlin : 
Riegel. 

Meanwhile, the town authorities began to consider 
more closely the frequently discussed question of 



3So THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

extending the Geiverbe-sohiooX by additional lower 
classes ; and although Kloden himself had full faith 
in his power to carry out this great work of organiza- 
tion, his friends and medical advisers would not 
consent to his undertaking, in his failing condition of 
health, a task which would necessarily be beset with 
difficulties and full of vexation and- excitement. It 
was undeniable that the starting and organizing of a 
preparatory school, and the inevitable increase and 
extension of school duties which must result from its 
establishment, both with regard to instruction and 
management, would make demands on Kloden's 
physical strength which he would only be able to 
satisfy for a short time. Under these circumstances, 
he resolved, with a very heavy heart, to give up the 
post which thirty-one years of devoted service and 
conscientious fulfilment of duty had rendered inex- 
pressibly dear to him, and to apply for his dismissal. 
On the 22nd of September, 1855, he retired on a 
well-earned pension. The curatorium of the Gewerbe- 
school, the provincial school board, and the chief 
council of the province of Brandenburg expressed to 
him, in highly complimentary farewell letters, their 
thanks for, and appreciation of, his services ; and the 
chief council made special reference to his labours on 
behalf of the history of the Mark. The curatorium 
wrote as follows : — " We shall never forget that it 
was you who called our Gewerbe-school into life, and 
was the means of its being a source of blessing for 
more than thirty years ; that it was through your 
insight and penetration that the ideas which this 
school was intended to embody received their 



APPENDIX. 381 

practical realization, and that out of them grew an 
institution which has Avorked most usefully and fruit- 
fully for the education of youth in general, as well as 
for the elevation and advancement of industry." On 
the 26th of September, 1855, the school gave Kloden 
a farewell entertainment, which was purposely of 
short duration, in order not to agitate the feeble old 
man, now so easily shaken. His successor in office, 
the distinguished chemist Professor Dr. Kohler, who 
had for many years been first-master of the school, 
presented to him, in the name of all the masters, a 
gold snuff-box with a platina and enamel lid, on 
which the Kloden arms were engraved, and ac- 
companied the gift with a touching and hearty 
address, in which he requested Kloden to carry the 
snuff-box every day. Kloden responded impressively 
and beautifully, in the same sense in which he had 
expressed himself in his Family History concerning 
the importance of the Gewerbe-sohool and the other 
Real educational institutions founded after its model : 
" The foundation is laid on which a superstructure 
may be securely built. The usefulness of this school 
has been sufficiently proved ; and even if the name of 
its founder passes into oblivion — as happens to so 
much in the world — his work will live on and not be 
wasted ; for whatsoever is good carries in itself the 
warrant of its duration. Even were the school which 
I have founded to perish, the idea would survive and 
continue to work ; for the idea is eternal, its form 
only accidental and changeable. But it is ' God who 
gives the increase.' " 



382 THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

With a sad heart, Kloden bade goodbye to his 
beloved homestead in the Niederwall Strasse, and went 
over to the Ritter Strasse. Owing to the enormous 
extent of his collections, the removal was rather a 
difficult undertaking. The chief item in his property 
was his library for the History of Brandenburg, which 
consisted of forty -two MS. and 3,900 printed works, 
and a large collection of plans and copies — a tout-en- 
semble quite unique of its kind, and which it is greatly 
to be regretted that none of the public scientific insti- 
tutions of Berlin were at the time of the auction in a 
position to purchase. Added to this historical library 
there were such an immense number of natural 
science and geographical works, that the entire col- 
lection of books numbered about 15,700 volumes, 
amongst which were all the principal works relating 
to the above, and not a few biographical rarities. 
Then came a comprehensive collection of maps, which 
contained many MS. maps, and also about 2,000 
plans of towns. This collection was bought after- 
wards for the Royal Library. Then a cabinet of 
articles in glass and plaster-of-Paris, another of more 
than 10,000 conchites; and, finally, a complete col- 
lection of petrifactions, from the diluvian formation 
of the Mark Brandenburg, which the Royal Ministry 
of Trade obtained possession of. 

The re-arranging and placing of his library taxed 
Kloden's strength in the highest degree ; but, never- 
theless, he could not be brought to give up the old, 
dearly-loved habit of devoting a few hours daily to 
literary work. He wrote, at this time, a treatise, 
which has remained imprinted, on the " Brandenburg 



APPENDIX. 383 

Harlunger" (25 quarto pages), and worked at a 
" History of Sacred Song, especially from the time 
of the Reformation to the end of the Seventeenth Cen- 
tury" (176 octavo pages). This last work lays stress 
chiefly on the musical development of choral song ; it 
extends to the year 1700, and is pervaded by a deli- 
cate harmony and loving warmth which show how 
the most careful special studies were vividly supple- 
mented by pious and loving recollections of youth, 
and a rare sympathetic familiarity with the subject. 

On the 5th of January, 1856, Kloden was in the 
midst of a congenial circle of friends, and was 
laughing merrily over a joke, when the last stroke of 
apoplexy came upon him. 

On the 9th of January he breathed his last, in the 
house of the friends who had nursed him with the 
greatest devotion. 

The funeral took place from the Hall of the 
GWtfrfo-school. At home, on his writing-table, lay 
the " Harlunger" and the " History of Choral Song," 
awaiting their completion. 



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